By Pamela Rose Williams

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: ~1 Peter 3:15

Be ready always to give an answer to every man. This should be the desire in the heart of every Christian, every day! We have heard that we should be the “light” to the world by letting Jesus shine through us. On those days that you especially feel the presence of God in your life and the love of Christ in your heart someone might just ask you “What makes you so happy?” This verse in 1 Peter is a great reminder that when that question is asked we should be ready to give an answer. The answer is that you were lost and now you are saved with a promise of eternal life in Heaven one day.

Did you know that when you ask a Christian why they do not spend more time telling people about Jesus most often their reply will be that they are too afraid to do it? I believe that the reason why they do not tell people is because as Christians we have really failed to train people on how to approach other people with the gospel of their salvation.

I also know that lots of churches spend great amounts of time and money getting the word out that Jesus saves, but spend precious little time teaching new Christians on the doctrines of the Bible.

And many people who hear the truth of the gospel will not accept the gift of grace because they believe they need to know more about the Bible to be a Christian.

This whole thing is a catch 22!

The only way we are going to correct this problem is when we are willing to start teaching baby Christians and unbelievers what the clear gospel is and then equipping them with tools that will help them to understand the Bible.

We need to make sure that they even know what the gospel is. That’s our job, to share the truth as we know it. It is simple and can be summed up into very few words:

Christ died for my sins and rose from the dead, according to the scriptures.

This simple fact, the gospel (good news) is recorded in the Bible at 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. God’s word (the Bible) promises that when we believe in what Jesus the Christ did on the cross, we are given eternal life. That means that our destination when life on this planet is over is changed from Hell to Heaven (Romans 6:23). We can know for sure (1 John 5:13) that we are guaranteed eternal life because of what is written in the Bible too (Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30, John 10:27-29) and nothing that we do can get us to Heaven just as nothing that we do can take that eternal life from us.

How do I know that?

Because I read it in the Bible (above verses) and I believe the Bible is the Word of God, and I believe God is not a liar (Numbers 23:19)!

That eternal life, salvation from death in Hell is the “hope” that is spoken of in the 1 Peter 3:15 passage at the beginning of this post. The reason for the hope is the fact that this salvation is absolutely free and has a lifetime guarantee!

You do not have to do anything to earn it because Jesus already paid the wage for all your sins, all my sins, all of everyone’s sins in the whole world (John 3:16; Romans 3:23; 5:8; 6:23).

Everyone loves a gift, but for the gift to be yours you must accept the gift. Believing in what Jesus did on the cross as payment for your sin debt is your acceptance and from the moment that you believe until you draw your last breath on this earth, nothing can take that gift away from you — it is yours, for keeps!

As growing Christians we ought to be equipping our younger brothers and sisters in Christ — we need to be prepared to carefully share the clear gospel with others, with meekness and fear

So what is the right answer? It’s this: God said it, Jesus did it, I believe it!

I was a grown woman before I learned the truth of the gospel.  Don’t delay, accept the right answer and share it with others. That’s how we “sanctify the Lord God in our hearts”, we believe the gospel and then share it with others.

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