I felt so relieved when I walked out of the Bible building after defending my Thesis. It wasn't as bad as I had thought. The scene that had entered my mind in the days leading up to it were of me sitting in a dark room in a chair with a bright light shining in my face with a panel of people sitting behind a table opposite me interrogating me. It was nothing like that. I had many questions thrown at me, but answering them was not difficult. After having spent so much time reading, translating, studying, and reflecting, this should have come as not surprise. It was a little unnerving when I was asked to leave the room twice so the panel could confer. They didn't confer long. After I was called back in, the chairman told me that if they were all standing, that was a good sign. It meant that they were finished because I had successfully defended my Thesis.
In reflecting on this experience, I am reminded of this passage.
"…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" (1 Pet 3:15).
Two things are required in order to make a defense. Obviously, you have to know something about what you are defending. Peter says that we need to be ready to give an account for the "hope" that is in us. Hope is what we look forward to and what we live for. If someone were to ask, "Why do you hope in Christ?" would you be ready? What would you say? Would you be caught off guard?
The second thing required is what Peter so clearly says. "Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts." We need to set him apart as our master. In context, Peter is talking about making a defense of our faith to those hostile to Christians. In other words, always be ready to give an account even when it might cause discomfort for us. Sometimes the proverbial cock crows in order to remind us of the type of commitment that Jesus desires from us. Let us never act as Peter did and hide our faith.
We will probably not face the same type of danger that those whom Peter was writing to faced when we share the Gospel. With so much less to fear, it should be easier shouldn't it? Satan will try and put an unnatural fear into the hearts of Christians to keep them silent. We must always remember that this kind of fear comes from Satan and not from God. Christ has overcome him, and if we resist him, he will flee from us.
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