The preparation ahead of time for any event is as important as the actual event. Giving a report? Making a decision? Asking for a raise? Closing on a real estate deal? The key to success is found in how you prepare: Doing the paperwork, studying, completing the homework, getting enough sleep and proper nourishment, staying focused/minimizing distractions, staying the course—these all come into play as we “prepare ourselves” for a task at hand. 

Keep that in mind as you meditate on 1 Peter 3:15 (printed above). Peter had just finished giving instructions to wives and husbands as to how to treat each other. Then he moved on to giving instructions to all believers on how to manage relationships with unbelievers. His instruction: “Be prepared.” 

Huh? Well, specifically, he says to be prepared to give an answer to everyone who questions the reason for our hope. Peter is telling us that your bold response could use some preparation.

How can I possibly answer a question about where my hope comes from (and why I trust God) if I haven’t studied God’s word? How can I answer a question about my hope if I haven’t gotten to know the hope-giver? How can I even begin to explain my relationship with Christ if I haven’t spent any time with Him? How strong and confident will my “Hope” be if I haven’t experienced, tested, walked with, and relied upon “the reason” for it?

Peter wrote to the persecuted Christians in Asia Minor. Even as they were undergoing extreme hardship, their outward behavior demonstrated hope in Jesus—not a wishful, groundless optimism, but a solid and assured faith (see Hebrews 6:19–20). The believers’ lack of fear in the face of suffering would have compelled others to take notice and to ask about the reason for their faith, providing a perfect opportunity “to give an answer.” 

When believers display their sure hope in Jesus despite their circumstances, others notice (see 1 Peter 2:12). And the answer: Their experience with Jesus and His followers was the REASON they could be hopeful! 

Have you ever asked someone to teach you something they already know? For example, as a Senior Citizen living in the “decade of discounts,” I am not well versed with technology. My children and their generation, however, have been raised with computers since Kindergarten! Therefore, I often reach out to someone half my age to ask a question about technology, and I can tell you that their attitude toward me when answering has EVERYTHING to do with how well I comprehend what they’re teaching me!! If they come across with an “I’m superior; you’re inferior” attitude, I almost immediately shut down. 

Keeping that in mind, the remainder of 1 Peter 3:15 instructs us as to what our tone and attitude should be when answering someone who asks about our faith. We must use “gentleness and respect.” There’s no place for harshness or disrespect in a Christian’s life, especially as we represent Christ and give an answer to explain our faith. Peter exhorts the believer to answer unbelievers gently, respectfully, and with the example of one’s life. 

The command to “always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” indicates that there is an evident faith that causes us to live out our hope in Christ visibly—for others to notice. When unbelievers see a Christian’s great hope in the face of persecution or suffering, they will naturally want to know the reason for that hope (Matthew 5:16), and we, in turn, need to be prepared to give an answer—to share the gospel—in a way that is gentle and respectful.

PRAYER:

Sweet Jesus, we praise you from Whom ALL blessings flow! Thank you for developing our faith, for growing us, stretching us, allowing us to experience you in a very personal way. Will you draw us closer to you—teaching us and fulfilling your promise to be found by us when we seek you wholeheartedly? That we may always be ready to give a reason for our hope that is found in you, that is our petition today. And we ask it in Your Name, Jesus, Amen.

FINAL WORD:

In our lives in the world, the temptation is always to go where the world takes us, to drift with whatever current happens to be running strongest. When good things happen, we rise to heaven; when bad things happen, we descend to hell… I know this to be true of no one as well as I know it to be true of myself. I know how just the weather can affect my whole state of mind for good or ill, how just getting stuck in a traffic jam can ruin an afternoon that in every other way is so beautiful that it dazzles the heart. We are in constant danger of being not actors in the drama of our own lives but reactors.

– Frederick Buechner, U.S. writer and preacher (1926–)

REFLECT:

THIS IS A TEST: Image you’re sitting with a non-believing acquaintance who suddenly asks you the following questions (use your journal to formulate your responses):

1. You seem to have your life together. Is that because you go to church?
2. Things don’t seem to bother you… why is that?
3. I wonder what life is supposed to be all about, and I seem to always come up empty…