BEING PREPARED TO ANSWER

BIBLE PASSAGE:
“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. But do
this with gentleness and respect”
(1 Peter 3:15)

MEDITATION:
Have you ever thought about what the Lord expects of those He
has saved? Does He have any expectations of those who are now
called ‘believers’?

His Word tells us that we should ‘revere’ (regard as worthy of great
honor) Christ as Lord. That means that we should always give Jesus
His rightful place in our lives.

Where is His rightful place? It is when we allow Him to have total
control of every facet of our lives. We should give him control of
our thoughts, our attitudes, our emotions, our goals, our interests,
our everything.

Does that mean we don’t make any decisions ourselves? No, it means
we have ‘decided’ to give the Lord control of our lives. We also have
‘made a choice’ to consult with Him on all our decisions, problems, etc.
It means we rely on the Lord and trust Him to provide what we need,
at the time when we need it.

Considering what He did for us on the cross and how He loved us
before we knew Him, it makes sense that we should let the One who
loves us that much, become a major part of our lives. And we do,
not only are we showing our appreciation for what He has done for
us, but we are also expressing a faith and trust that He will give us
the guidance we need for successful living. He died for us (it was for
our benefit, not His). How much more love could He express?

Since He is omniscient (all-knowing, all-wise, all-seeing), He is the
most qualified to advise us in all things that are important. When
the Lord is in control, we will gladly participate as members of His
ministry team, in whatever way He wants us to use the spiritual gift
He has given us.

Personally, each morning I look forward to what He wants me to put
in these devotionals. Although I would like to take credit for them, I
know the ‘real source’ of the content of each devotional (and I get to
read them before anyone else does!). Some mornings I awaken with a
thought for a devotional, however, by the time my computer powers
up, the Lord leads me to something else.

When we are serving Him, we need to know why we believe,
what we believe. This is another expectation He has of His
followers – we need to be prepared to answer anyone who
asks us why we call ourselves Christians. Our answers should
be much more than just an intellectual knowledge of the Bible,
God, Jesus, and His crucifixion and resurrection.

If we are asked, we should consider it an opportunity to tell others
how the Lord has been involved in our lives, and a chance to tell
them about some specific instance where we have felt His presence.

If someone asks why we have the hope we do, more than likely their
curiosity has been aroused about developing a relationship with the
Lord. We should never take their questions lightly and make some
casual remark like,
    “I follow the Lord because atheists don’t have enough holidays”.
It is not a time for making jokes; it is a time to realize that someone
needs to hear about surrendering their life to the Lord in order to
spend an eternity with Him.

As members of His ‘ministry team’, we need to always
be ready to give a sincere answer to anyone who asks
us why we have placed our hope in the Lord.

Although there are many other expectations the Lord has of believers
(including prayer, reading His Word, worshipping with other believers,
using our gifts and talents to serve Him, just to mention a few), in the
scripture above He tells us of His expectations for us, and how we
should share with others why we believe in Him.

We are told that we should answer the questions from others with
gentleness and respect. These two very important attitudes should
be present whenever we respond to non-believers (or anyone else).
These are two of the identifying characteristics of followers of
Jesus Christ.

‘Gentleness’ means we respond in a calm, caring manner and do
not try to be “preachy”. We shouldn’t start quoting a lot of the
scriptures, which could have little meaning to lost people. More
than likely our best approach could be to share our personal
experiences with the Lord, in the same manner we would respond
to a question from one of our close friends.

‘Respect’ means that we do not answer their questions in a
condemning or condescending fashion. When we are asked
about our belief, others are not interested in how great we
think we are at being a Christian and how bad we think they
are. In fact, it is important for others to understand that we
do not consider ourselves any better than they are, but God
has saved us, and as a result, our lives have been changed.
    Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already
    arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for
    which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters,
    I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But
    one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining
    toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win
    the prize for which God has called me heavenward in
    Christ Jesus.
    (Philippians 3:12-14)

    Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.
    Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
    not looking to your own interests but each of you
    to the interests of the others.
    (Philippians 2:3-4)

We are no longer influenced by every fad or philosophy
the world has to offer. Why? Because we have discovered
something much more valuable for living the real ‘good life’.

ACTION:
If someone asked you,
    “Why do you believe what you believe?”
how would you respond?

Do you have a personal testimony you could share with them?
Can you tell them why you enjoy reading God’s word? Would
you be able to tell them how much you look forward to praising,
worshipping, and thanking the God who created you?

Could you explain to them the joy of spending time communicating
with the Lord in prayer? Would you be able to tell them how you
are actively serving the Lord in some capacity?

Based on your answers to their questions:
    Would they ask additional questions?
    Would they be interested in salvation for themselves?
    Would they decide that your beliefs are shallow or insincere?

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for my salvation. Help me to be
prepared to share with others why I believe in You, why I read
Your Word, why I pray to You, and why I obey your command
to meet with other believers to praise and worship You. I ask
You to guide me in organizing my thoughts so that I can easily
answer any questions from others about why I have placed my
hope in You. I pray that You would make me aware of any areas
in my own life where I need to make changes in order to have a
testimony to share with others. Help me to become more obedient
to You and Your expectations, instead of allowing my own selfish
desires to be in control.”

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