Always being ready to make a defense for the hope that is in you

1 Peter 3:8-4:6 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; ⁹ not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. ¹⁰ For, “The one who desires life, to love and see good days, Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. ¹¹ “He must turn away from evil and do good; He must seek peace and pursue it. ¹² “For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, And His ears attend to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” ¹³ Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, ¹⁵ 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; ¹⁶ and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. ¹⁷ For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. ¹⁸ For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; ¹⁹ in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, ²⁰ who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.²¹ Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.

4 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, ² so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. ³ For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. ⁴ In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; ⁵ but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. ⁶ For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God.

In today’s text it says:  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.   Are you ready to make a defense for the hope that is in you?   In yesterday’s text it said:  Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.  If Christ is truly Lord in and of our hearts, then we will put aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.  We will long for the word of God so that we can be ready to make a defense of our hope and faith. It is important that we know the word of God and that we continue to grow and align ourselves with His word, if we are going to make a defense of our hope and our faith.   Revelation 12:10-11 says:  Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”   There is an overcoming power released when we defend our faith; when we testify of our faith. We must be careful though that we do not testi-I. The overcoming power is in the blood of the lamb. The power of our testimony is not in telling others what we have done, it is in telling others what Christ did for us. It is not just about our salvation though, but also about how we are growing in respect to our salvation. Still our testimony is not about what we are doing for Christ, but rather what He is continuing to do for us and through us. If we testify about how Christ has healed us, there is overcoming power for others to be healed, not by us but by the same Christ who is our hope.  We should continually; always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.   If Christ is Lord in and of our hearts, it is the life of Christ in us and not our love of our own lives that others will see. It is how we are growing in respect to our salvation, as we long for and align with the word of God that will also testify of the overcoming power of Christ.  

The text says:  To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. For, “The one who desires life, to love and see good days, Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. “He must turn away from evil and do good; He must seek peace and pursue it.  “For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, And His ears attend to their prayer, But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good?     “You were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.”     That blessing, the purpose of our calling is that because Christ died for us, leading to our salvation, we would live for Him, growing in respect to our salvation.  Who is there to harm us if we prove zealous for what is good; if we are growing in respect to our salvation and sanctifying Christ as Lord in and of our hearts? Romans 8:28-39 says:  We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.   Everything that happens in our lives, all the good things and all the bad things are used by God to cause us to be conformed to the image of Christ; they cause us to grow in respect to our salvation. If we will be ready to make a defense of our hope and our faith, even as we walk through the difficult times in our lives, if we will speak of how we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us,  there will be a release of the overcoming power of the blood of the lamb through our testimony.

Since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God… 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. 

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit; I long for Your word; that I might sanctify You fully as Lord in and of my heart. May my life and my words be a testimony of what You have done and what You are doing. May others see the evidence of the growth in my life in respect to the salvation I have received through the blood of the lamb. May I be willing and ready to defend the hope and the faith I have in You. As I overcome by the blood of the Lamb may others also overcome by the word of my testimony.   Amen.