Stand Ready

During my morning devotional, one piece of scripture really hit home. 1 PETER 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”This one little verse holds so much power. In order for us to even be able to share the hope of Christ, we must first sanctify our hearts. In other words, purify our hearts and be free from sin. I have to purify my heart daily. I have to ask the Lord to create in me a clean heart sometimes hourly. The point is to always seek to live a sin free life. We are human and fail, but we need to always aim higher. Second point of this verse is always be ready to share your hope in Christ and GIVE A REASON. That part we ALL seem to forget. We give the same I have hope because Jesus died on the cross and rose again so I can have eternal life. That is all well and true but have you ever shared what he has done for you personally? We don’t like to share our personal lives. That makes us vulnerable. It opens us up to ridicule and judgement. People are going to ridicule and judge you regardless of what you say. Jesus told us this in Matthew 10:22 “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved” The world already hates you for the Christian that you are so don’t let fear stop you from sharing your faith. Overcome fear by BOLDY declaring whom your Lord and Savior is. Last but not least, is the most important part of the verse, with meekness and fear. Now I know I just said don’t let fear stop you and here it says share your faith with meekness and fear. This part is saying share your faith with gentle kindness in fear of the Lord not man. We fear man more than we do God. It shouldn’t be like that. Matthew 10:28 tells us “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” God is our protector. We should not let fear of anything on earth keep us from sharing our hope in Christ with others. So I guess in all my ramblings, I want to impart this to you. We are coming up on the holiday season. You will encounter many that don’t know the Lord or have fallen to the wayside. I want to encourage you to stand ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you. Tell them what God has done for you personally. Pray he puts those in your path that you can be a help to. My prayer is for you to have faith and confidence to share his love. God Bless You!