Monday; July 2

          Have you ever read something and assumed that you knew what it meant only to go back and look at it from a different perspective and come up with a new appreciation for it?  Let me give you an example.  Throughout most of my Christian walk I have been very familiar with the Peter’s admonition, “... but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence ...”.  (I Peter 3:15)  To me, it made logical sense to be able (and prepared) to defend my Christian doctrine.  Yet, is that what this passage is all about?   Sure, we should be able to defend the precepts of our faith, but what about being able to justify our “hope”?  As I pondered this it lead me to a couple of different thoughts:
1).  Do we have hope in us?  We live in a world that wrestles with hopelessness.  They are inundated with questions such as “Will this world ever make sense?” or “Is there any hope that things will get better?” or even, “Why should I care?”.  Before we can defend our hope, we  have to have hope.  If we join in the with chorus of hopelessness and bemoan the wretchedness of our lives, we have no hope to defend.  Before we try to explain the blessings found in Christianity, we’d better be seeing and vocalizing the hope we have.
2).  What gives us hope?  I believe that this is where our discussion can take one of two forks in the road.  If someone wants to us lay out a logical rationale for our religious practice, that’s one thing but, if they want to know what gives us “hope” we’d better be able to explain that, too.  We have hope because we serve an Almighty God who loves us enough to send His Son to save us.  We believe that this world is not the end, rather it is a stepping-stone to eternal life.  We have hope that one day God will stop the hurt and chaos that surrounds a world dominated by satan and restore this sinless, painless life of purity.
          Can we defend our hope?  Hopefully we can … and we will.
          Think About It! 

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