Why I Believe
Why I Believe
I just got through preparing my Sunday School lesson and thought I would share why I am so passionate about studying God’s Word. In Sunday School, we are currently using my Bible study titled In the Beginning: Genesis 1-11 that I recently published. This Sunday, we will discuss lesson 26 where we will talk about Cain and Abel. These are two brothers, one a shepherd and one a farmer. One a superficial worshiper while the other is a sacrificial worshiper.
As the story unfolds, one can conclude that they are very different in their attitudes toward God. When I was writing the study some years ago, it caused me to reflect back on my own life. I had to confess that I was a “Cain” in my 20s but later emerged an “Abel”. I had been a superficial worshiper but became a sacrificial worshiper. Stay with me here and it will all make sense by the end of this blog!
So this is where I want to tell you about why I believe. I grew up in a Christian home. My parents were church goers, they walked the talk and they raised us kids in a godly home. I had a prayer life and I had no reason at all NOT to believe that everything I was learning from my parents and from church was anything but true.
So, now you know the environment I was growing up in. It was safe, godly, disciplined and everything it takes to raise a healthy, balanced, and secure young woman. Fast forward a little bit and you find me in college. I dropped off of church and pretty much dropped off of a consistent prayer life.
Fast forward again, I get married, have a child, and quit two years later to stay home with my first child. Most women at my stage of life were attending a large bible study in the town that I lived in. This class was huge and many of my friends and old clients attended the class. I wanted to go because I could get out of the house, get some time with adults, and occasionally go to lunch with my friends afterward. Oh, and I thought my child needed to learn about the Bible!
The study that year was the book of John. I had never attended a bible study before, nor had I ever “studied” the bible like this before. Because I recently had quit work, money was a little tight and therefore, I decided to participate in the Christmas Bazaar at my church. You had to rent a booth for one hundred dollars and so I did with the plans of selling some purses that an aunt had made. I could keep the markup on any purses I sold that weekend so I was pretty excited about all the money I was going to make!
Well, I sat there for four days and did not sell a single purse! A woman at the booth next to me commented about how cute the purses were and wondered why I hadn’t sold any. I told her I was in the hole $100!! She said, “But the money goes to the church.” I said, “I don’t care, I’m IN THE HOLE ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!” I was terribly disappointed as I had spent all that money I thought I would make a thousand different ways in my head!
Okay…….slow forward to that Monday morning after the church bazaar. I am sitting at my little desk doing my lesson for that week from the book of John. A question leads me to the verse of John 2:16. This verse says, “To those who sold doves, Jesus said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” The words I read from my Bible that day practically levitated off the page.
How did the Lord know that I was selling purses in a church bazaar, in HIS HOUSE? How did He know that I was there to make money for my own personal gain? How did He orchestrate the timing of the church bazaar, my Bible study lesson, and keep me from selling any purses?? He knew everything about me and my life and I suddenly felt so filthy! But at the same time, I felt so clean! It was such an amazing, defining moment in my life that it seams like yesterday rather than over 30 years ago.
For the absolute, first time in my life, I saw myself as a sinner. Everything I had ever learned about Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was making perfect sense to me! I had always compared myself to others and thought I was a pretty good person. But God’s Word convicts us of our sin. That is why Bible study is so important! It reveals our imperfections! These imperfections separate us from God. At this moment, I could feel a connection to God because I understood what Jesus did for me. I understood for the first time in my life that I had a Lord that cared about little ol’ me and noticed me.
That day, my belief became MINE! I no longer believed because Mom and Dad taught me to believe. I believed because I knew, without a doubt, Jesus was real. I knew He knew everything about me. I knew I was a sinner and I would never be good enough to go to Heaven on my own. I knew His sacrifice on the cross wiped away my greed and selfishness.
My life completely changed from that moment on. I was “saved” from myself! I received the Holy Spirt and my spiritual gift of teaching, even though I didn’t know it at the time. When our belief becomes our belief and not someone else’s, then we are born-again! People get so hung up on the term “born-again”. But it is truly a new life that emerges with a new perspective. We are no longer controlled by the sinful nature but we are controlled by the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit). We will still sin but sin no longer controls us.
It was later in years that I realized I had a gift for teaching God’s Word to others. I wanted to share my gift of teaching with others and I have been doing it for years.
What about you? Have the dots connected for you yet? I am so thankful for that Bible study and that moment the Lord confronted me. I would love to hear your comments or your own story!
Click on the comment box below or you can email me at janicebobanistcm@gmail.com
Blessings,
Janice Bobanis
