Hope--#7

1Peter 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:

In the last devotion we learned not only are we to give the reason for our hope, but we are to do it with meekness and fear. It says to “...be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you...” God will do the rest as you are faithful to give the reason of your hope to them. So often, we get caught up in the idea that we have to convince people to turn to Christ. The result is usually less than desirable when we try to do the Holy Spirit's work. Arguments and debates on theology and doctrine ensue and we become less than meek and fearful in our approach. I know. I've been there and done that.

The idea of fear in our approach to sharing our hope with people intrigues me. The Greek word for fear here is phobos which means literally, “from a primary phebomai (to be put in fear); alarm or fright: --be afraid, + exceedingly, fear, terror.”(Strong’s Greek Lexicon) We know that we are not to be afraid of telling people where our hope lies. Acts 4:13,29,31 all speak of the boldness of the Apostles to speak the word of God. We know from this that our verse isn't telling us to be timid. I think the idea here may be two-fold. We are to fear their eternal condition and we are to be in fear of the holiness of the God we serve.

Isaiah, at the realization of God's holiness said, "Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." (Isaiah 6:5) Remembering the holiness of God, we need to use our words carefully, allowing God to guide us in what we say so we don't resort to saying things that are not needful. Colossians 4:5-6 tells us to “Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

It's an awesome responsibility to live in such a way that our lives reflect the hope we have in Christ. Recently, there have been circumstances that have arisen in which I have shamefully, taken matters into my own hands instead of living out the hope I have in Christ. I am being convicted by God of the fact that my reactions often are less than holy and do not reflect hope in Christ.

I leave you with this quote from Nancy Missler. "What we must understand is not what God is doing (why has He allowed this?), but what God expects from us." (emphasis mine) He expects us to put Him first in our hearts and be ready to give an answer for the hope we have as a result.

Dear Father, I confess I have failed so many times in this. I pray that You will help me to do better in the future and thank You for Your forgiveness. Amen.