Maybe you’re recently had the privilege of sharing the gospel with someone, and perhaps they came to faith right there before your eyes. Or maybe the results were somewhat different, like that time when you stood tall at that business dinner when someone at your table asked, “So tell me, what makes you so different?” The window of opportunity doesn’t get any clearer than that, you think. So, you proceeded to share with this person the glorious gospel message, convinced that he would drop down on his knees right between the meal courses and cry out to Jesus to save him.
But, it didn’t quite go that way. In fact, you’d have to say that after you’d finished that you’ve never heard such ridiculing laughter in all your life. And what was worse, it was all directed at you. “What did I do wrong? I thought the gospel was the power of God unto salvation!!” Doubts begin to arise in your heart. “Why is it when I try to do something good like this I get such a bad result?”
Beloved, in our passage, we read of a charge given by the apostle; “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). In that context, he was essentially saying to them, “Know what you believe and why you believe it, even if it comes to the point of death.” Peter wanted them to settle these things in their hearts, having the full assurance that they possessed the truth. If the unbeliever came to faith in that moment, then God be praised. If that person called the authorities on you and had you sent to prison, then God be praised. Either way, right up to our own day, Peter gives us this challenge, “Will you know what you believe, and why you believe it?”
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