Hope

I Peter 3

15b And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.

Heard a good sermon from this text a couple of weeks ago. Key takeaways from the message and from this passage of Scripture include: 1)Hope looks forward, faith looks back - the world is in desperate need of hope, and we have it in Christ, so we need to share that Hope with confidence. 2)Sharing hope in a gentle and respectful way gains the attention of those with whom you share. We don’t need to beat people over the head with the Bible, we need to live out biblical precepts in a way that glorifies God and draws people to Him. 3)Live a life above reproach so that even if people try to slander you, their words will come back to bring them shame. Not that we are trying to shame anyone, but if we live above reproach, shame will come to those who would try to harm us with untrue words. My Hope is in Christ, and I want to live a life that glorifies Him and draws people to Him every day.