“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” —1 Peter 3:15
Am I prepared?
God’s Word says I should be…it says I should be prepared to give an answer to EVERYONE who asks me about the hope I have.
It should be easy, right?
It should roll off my tongue like sweet honey…the hope that saturates my life…our lives…in deep shades of red that enhance, preserve, and restore the canvases that we are. Canvases that God uses to tell a story…His story…in His own beautiful and articulate way.
So it should be easy, right?
Then why is it when we sit still and think about sharing the hope of Christ with others our chests quickly become heavy? The room we’re in gets a little darker…a melodic piano tune surges through the voids in our heads; the lowly deep tones of the notes seem to make our heart shudder under the weight of revealing hope to the world.
Somewhere along the way we’ve forgotten the joy of sharing hope.
Somewhere in the midst of paying the bills and watching the chaos of the world unfold on our televisions we’ve bought into the lie that any little bit of hope there may be in the world is not meant for us to share, because we’re far from feeling it ourselves.
So we hide away, simply because if no one sees the hope within us…then they won’t have any reason to ask about it.
This brothers and sisters…is called “existing”.
And it’s a lifestyle that has become easy for us as Christians to perfect.
We complicate…we frustrate…we get lost in the details.
“What do I believe?” “Should I believe this?” “How can I talk about hope when I feel so lost?” “Life seems so much harder since I became a Christian, how do I express the hope I have in Jesus when all I want to do is scream?”
We complicate…we frustrate…we get lost in the details.
Let me ask you something that I have asked myself…why do you love your kids? Why do you love your spouse? Why do you love your parents? Why do you love your family and friends? What is it about them that makes you feel joy and hopeful in life?
Can you give me an answer free of political beliefs, doctrinal preferences, sexuality, or how hard your life is right now? OF COURSE YOU CAN!
These people have had important roles in our life and your relationships with them are much deeper than any “surface” controversy could reflect. I’m positive you could give proper testimony to the value these awesome people have brought to your life, and that value has far endured the difficult days you’ve lived through and the heavy weight on your chest that you experience sometimes.
So that begs the question… what reason do you have for having hope?
As Christians when we hear this question we know the source for our hope is Christ…so are we prepared to give our reason?
If we could come up with many reasons why we love our friends and family, should it not be that much easier to explain what the Savior of our soul’s means to us?
“It can’t be that easy,” you may be thinking. “I mean, there’s so much to consider in my approach to giving my reason…I don’t want them to be confused…I just want to be real.”
The lets be real brothers and sisters. Let’s not complicate…let’s not frustrate…let’s not get lost in the details. God’s not telling us in 1 Peter to convert someone or explain to them why we believe the doctrine of “tongues” still exist today or why you don’t agree with the homosexual lifestyle, or even why life is just so dang hard no matter if you’re a Christian or not.
Why Jesus gives you hope is rooted in what He’s already done for you and what He will continue to do moving forward. This has nothing to do with the “issues” that can ultimately hold us back from sharing Christ with others. Do you really think that’s what a person presenting the question of the existent hope in your life really wants to hear anyway?
No, whether they know it or not, their searching for a Savior just like you and I were.
We need to speak plainly from our hearts and then allow God to do the work of transformation.
Am I prepared?
Are you prepared?
