Always Be Prepared (1 Peter 3:15)

The idea

Peter wrote to believers who were being slandered and pushed around, and he gave them a simple instruction: always be ready to explain the hope you have to anyone who asks. Being ready is work you do today for a conversation that may come tomorrow. The word for "answer" is apologia, a defense, but it doesn't have to be long. Someone asking why you have hope wants something short and honest, not a forty-five minute sermon. And they only ask when something in your life looks different from theirs. Peter finishes with how to do it: gentleness and respect. Gentleness isn't weakness. It's strength under control.

Take it with you

• Write your testimony in two or three sentences before anyone asks.
• Keep it short and personal. No one can argue with how God changed your life.
• Share it with respect. You can be right and still lose the person.

Reflect

If someone asked you today why you have hope, what would you say in thirty seconds?