By: Grace Metzger
I grew up in church. My family didn't just attend church, but my parents and grandparents were all pastors, every member of my family worked in ministry, I even lead a ministry when I was only 11 years old. Growing up in that kind of household meant that you were exposed to Christianity and God a lot. Daily prayers, Bible study, attending church, working events at church. Doing ministry was something that was just done in my family. It was a part of who we were. Because of this I never really put thought into what my own faith looked like.
I'm sure a lot of other people who were raised in faith can agree that, while it creates an absolutely amazing childhood, it also means that you have to do some real soul searching and work to separate your faith from your parents faith. This doesn't mean that you have to believe completely different things, that you can't share the same values or beliefs as your parents. What it does mean is that you can't ride on your family’s coat tails, you have to start a relationship with God on your own.
Creating your own relationship is so very important. Even if you weren't raised in a Christian household, you will still need to create your own relationship with God. It's not the relationship your pastor has with God or the relationship your friend has with God. This is your very own thing with God, it's unique and different then anyone else's.
It's easy to get caught up in the nice music, fancy lights, and kind people in Christianity, but when was the last time you took a deep look into your own faith? When was the last time you prayed by yourself, not with your family or at church, but you on your own sat down and spoke with God? When was the last time you read your Bible, not finding a verse during the sermon or reading in the Bible study group but actually taking time out of your day to read God's word?
I think it's incredibly important to take a look into your life like this on a daily bases. It's easy in our busy lives to forget to do something, to get distracted and not read your Bible in the morning, or get so hungry that you forgot to pray before eating. But when you do a deep look into your faith, you can discover how close the relationship is between you and God.
My parents have such a deep and real relationship with God. I looked up to that relationship in so many ways in my life. But now that I'm older, I realized that my relationship with God is something that is my own. I had to be the one to put in the effort. I had to be the one to read the Bible, pray, and go to church. I was no longer a little girl with my parents reading the Bible before bed, make me pray before eating, or taking me to go to church. Instead, it was up to me to do all of this. I had to create my own faith. What I found when doing this was that by having my own faith journey, my life so much better than before! I had more peace, joy, and love in my life once I made the decision to live out my own faith in God.
You have to make this decision, too. You have to decide, am I going to continue to all of this just because this is what my parents told me to do or am I going to continue to do this out of love and respect for God? Once you decide to live your life for Christ completely and totally your life will get much better, trust me!
Discussion Questions!
1.) How was faith brought up in your childhood?
2.) Was the a big change in your faith as a child versus adult?
Your family sounds a lot like my husband's family. He has lots of ministers in his family too. Yes, it's so true everyone has to make their faith their own when raised in a Christian family. My son had to go through a difficult period where he needed to be sure he believed what he believed cause it was true and not just because his family believed. it. Thankfully he came out on the right side of things.
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