March 31st, 2025

By Rebecca Vickery


But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15

One of the earliest Bible verses that I learned in college was 1 Peter 3:15. There were so many things to get out of the verse, and it has stuck with me since then (and college was a LONG time ago).  It is helpful to read the previous verses to get some context about what Peter is talking about here.  Immediately beforehand, he is talking about being a good witness.  Be likeminded and sympathetic.  Love one another, be compassionate.  Humble.  Not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult.  But instead, we are supposed to be and to give a blessing.

Imagine a world wherein we all looked like Jesus, where we all looked like LOVE.  In Philippians 2:14-16, they (and we) are encouraged to, “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.”  To do this is to live in stark contrast to the world around us.  

I don’t know about you, but I have experienced living a life without hope in God.  It’s pretty bleak.  There are times when I just wanted to give up.  As a believer, when I have taken my eyes off of God, it has felt very similar.  BUT, Peter, Paul and Timothy are challenging us to live a better way.  Submitting our rough edges to God and living more selflessly—less of me Lord, more of You—there is a perspective shift.  

What are we to do when people around us are not able to fathom the truths that we know in Christ Jesus?  When they have no hope in God?  When they have lost hope in the things of this world.  I know that when I didn’t believe in God, it was much harder to attribute value, and goodness, and wonder to everyday life.  Apart from God, I don’t know what gives us value, meaning, or hope.  But the Bible doesn’t tell us we’re supposed to change someone else’s beliefs.  Instead, we need to live out our own.

If I tell you I believe, but my life is a constant upheaval and filled with strife, I don’t imagine that I will shine very well for Him.  In fact, the more I try to control my own life, the more out of hand it becomes.  If I focus on the areas wherein I most struggle… Loneliness, brokenness, hopelessness, etc.  then I risk making those things the ultimate thing, and I will lose myself in pursuit of them.  But if I lose myself in pursuit of God, I find that He’s able to minister to me in all those things.   He bolsters my faith, and my attitude follows with it.  My suffering has produced perseverance; perseverance has built character; and from that, hope.  (Rom. 5:4)  

I have an answer for the hope that I have.  But I know it’s still possible I won’t be asked to give a reason for it.  Nevertheless, those closest to me already know what I believe.  They know (of) the God in whom I place ALL my trust.  When they are in despair, I can point them to the truth of the situation, even they don’t directly ask me to preach them a mini sermon when they come to me.  My perspective is clear.  I do not look at the world with muddy glasses and declare that it’s all mud.  I look at it with clear eyes, knowing that my hope is in the LORD, and knowing that they can have hope in the LORD as well.  

My hope is that I will shine like the stars in the heaven in a world where not everyone shines.  I will be set apart for God and live a life that makes it obvious that I am different, not because I say so, but because I am so.  Let me be a voice of reason in the midst of unreasonable times and unreasonable thinking.  Lord, make us to be like a shining city on a hill that cannot be hidden.  Let our light shine before all men that they will see our good works and praise our Father in heaven.  Let us set apart Christ in our hearts, and always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that we have.  And let us do so with gentleness and respect. For your glory.  And for your Kingdom.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

  

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