1 Peter 3:15-17
But regard the Lord, the Christ, as holy in your hearts. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is in you. But speak with gentleness and respect, while maintaining a clear conscience, so that those who attack your good way of life in Christ may be put to shame because they slandered you as evildoers.
Dear Heavenly Father,
In being prepared, may we have answers to these questions, “Why do you believe? And how do you know that is true?” It hinges on faith and trusting Your Word; there, You give us the answer, and by having faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that he has died for our sins, we have eternal life and confidently trust what You tell us in Your Word.
While we cannot convince someone to have hope or faith in You, we all live by faith, confident that we have air to breathe. We trust the center line will keep the car coming at us out of our lane. We might even trust banks.
Why do we believe in You, our God? Because Jesus rose from the dead. How do we know? Because the bible tells us so. Witnesses at the time of his resurrection came forward: the soldiers who guarded Jesus’ tomb declared His tomb empty after seeing the angel roll back the stone. Paul told the Corinthians over 500 witnessed Jesus alive. Also, it is hard to imagine anyone suffering martyrdom—how most of the disciples died— all for a lie.
So we hold on to Jesus, our Savior because he went to that cross to remove all our sins. So that by faith we know he rose, by faith we know our sins are forgiven, and by faith we know we are restored to you and have eternal life. So that in our last breath on the earth, we know our next moment will be with you in heaven. Our hope rests in Jesus, who has saved us and made us heirs of your kingdom despite the fact we are sinners.
While we cannot convince anyone to believe in you, we can ask that your Holy Spirit break down those barriers of unbelief so they would share in our hope of Jesus. Please keep us prepared to answer. Amen.
Written through Pastor Roger Emmons
Everyone lives on faith; the world’s hope is on banks, government, and other things that can all crash. However, godly hope in Christ will never fail; Jesus has already proven his love for you by dying in your place, so you have eternal life.