Good Morning Friends,
“But in your hearts set apart 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. But
do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those
who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of
their slander.” (1 Peter 3:15-16)
Be ready to tell others about Christ and what
He has done for you. That’s the challenge that Peter gives us here.
Get your heart ready. To do that requires
that our hearts be right with the Lord. Put the Lord in His rightful place in
your heart. This whole letter was written to those who were already Christians,
so Peter is not talking about a salvation decision here. Rather, he is talking
about the day-to-day challenge of keeping our heart focused on Jesus.
Be ready with words. God will provide you
with opportunities to speak to others about what makes your life different. He
is always at work in the lives of the people around you and He’ll give you
opportunities to be a part of that work. The challenge is for us to be ready
when it happens. To be ready we need to know why we have hope and we need to
know how to put it into words. Could you tell someone else why you’ve received
Jesus Christ and what difference He has made in your life? Are you ready?
Get your life ready. Many people are turned
off to our words because of what they see in our lives. Our goal must be to
live our lives in such a way that we don’t detract from the message that we
want people to hear from us. In fact, Peter talks about answering the questions
of those who ask and that implies that our lives so reflect Christ that others
see it and are prompted to ask about it. That’s a huge challenge for all of us.
It was Francis of Assisi who said something
like this, “Preach the gospel always. When
necessary, use words.”
His, by Grace,
Steve
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