March 31 - Be Ready To Answer.

I 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.”
 
Here we find the word sanctify again, but with a different meaning. We have no need to try and purify the Lord God, for He is already pure! The word sanctify has a few different definitions.
Sanctify: to render or acknowledge; to separate from profane things and dedicate to God; to consecrate things to God; to purify.
 
God wants us to separate our hearts to Him so that we are ready to be a witness for Him when we are asked. Have you ever had someone ask, “Hey, you’re a Christian, can I ask you a Biblical question?” Maybe you knew the answer, but maybe you were caught off guard, not sure what to say. Christ wants us to be ready to give an answer!
 
We have a reason of hope that this world does not have. This makes us a peculiar people. God wants us to be different!
 
When we have a close relationship with our Lord, we will stick out like a sore thumb in this dark and wicked world. The Light within us should shine for others to see without us having to tell people how we shine. D.L. Moody had a great way of putting this truth, he said: “We are told to let our light shine, and if it does, we won’t need to tell anybody it does. Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining – they just shine.”
 
The Lord wants us to be ready to answer, but not to be belligerent and unruly about our knowledge. At the end of our text today we see that we should be filled with “meekness and fear”. A mild and gentle disposition coupled with a godly fear is pleasing to the Lord.
 
Be ready, Christian, for you know not when someone will ask you of the reason for your hope in the Lord. It could be today. It could be tomorrow. Ask the Lord to help you be ready to give an answer that would be pleasing to Him.


Bible Reading:
Deuteronomy 25-26  |  Acts 2  |  Psalm 60