1 Peter 3:15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.
Powerful reminder that the hope of the Christian is not in possessions, status, or fame but it is rooted in the gospel. It is what makes us want to stand up and boldly proclaim the message of Christ's life, death, and resurrection. How can we keep quiet about the gospel when it is so important to who we are in Christ and how we live our lives. Yet often we shy away from sharing what God is doing in our live with friends and family as well as strangers.
We must reclaim the passion for speaking the truth in love, as Peter says in a gentle and respectful way. The tolerant nature of our postmodern culture gives believers the platform to speak truth in ways that history has yet to offer us. We are competing with ideas, but we must remember that we are not competing with people. They are the very reason for us to defend the Christian hope!
Peter Kreeft of Boston College is quoted as saying:
Be egalitarian regarding persons.
Be elitist regarding ideas. (A Faith and Culture Devotional)
I can't help but think that our ideas (God's truth) might gain a larger listening room if we would practice Kreeft's statement.
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