Ready To Speak

Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who ask you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear. - 1 Peter 3:15


Lee Eclov and his wife were at a coffee shop in Estes Park, Colorado. At another table sat four men, one of whom was mocking Christianity and the resurrection of Jesus.

Lee could sense the Lord telling him to respond. But his fear kept him from doing so. Finally, he knew he had to make a stand. So he walked over to the men and began giving historical evidence for the resurrection.

How do we respond when we're in a similar situation? The apostle Peter encouraged his readers to make a commitment to stand up for Jesus, especially during extreme suffering. This commitment meant not remaining speechless when circumstances warranted then to defend their faith. He said, "Always be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15). Their readiness to answer required them to know God's Word. They were to respond in godly meekness and fear, so that their persecutors would be ashamed of their own conduct.

Had Lee Eclov remained silent or responded rudely, the cause of Christ would have suffered. Lee later wrote, "God has a way of flushing us out of our quiet little places, and when He does we must be ready to speak for Him." - Marvin Williams


When people wonder about our faith,
What answer will we give?
We'll tell of Jesus who bore our sins
And shows us how to live. - Fitzhugh

To be silent about the Savior and His salvation is a dreadful sin of omission.

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1 Peter 3:13-22

Now who is he who will harm you, if you become imitators of that which is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "Don't fear what they fear, neither be troubled."

But sanctify the Lord God in you hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear: having a good conscience; that, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good manner of life in Christ.

For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that you suffer for doing well than for doing evil. Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which he also went and preached to the spirits in prison, who before were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ark was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you - not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and power being made subject to him.

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Always have good testimony for God...