“Always be ready to make your
defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in
you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.”
— 1 Peter 3:15-16a (NRSV)
What we live for is hope, but not
just any hope; we
live for hope’s foundation: the person of Jesus of Nazareth—the Christ.
Everything of hope can be founded upon the Messiah. And these statements are
made true whenever any nonbeliever encounters a spiritually gentle and reverent
believer who trusts God enough to reflect Jesus’ hope that resides within them
through the Holy Spirit.
What better defence is there than
the will to do good, even in the midst of those who wrong us? This is the
resonance of the hope of Christ—the very foundation of hope—that we would
suffer, in uncharacteristic joy, for doing right.
Joy is no characterisation of
humanness in the middle of suffering; but hope’s foundation ensures, as we
possess it, that we have the rites of passage to the experience of joy when
others would find the circumstances hopeless.
As others see hopelessness, the
foundation of hope within us helps us hope beyond sight. By faith we, who know
Christ, live; not by sight.
Answering Those Who Would Condemn or
Misunderstand
When we are disposed to suffering,
and we react in ways that are uncharacteristic of humanness, because we are
founded in the bedrock of Jesus’ hope, we must be ready for the appropriate
answer. People will question us. People will see our responses as absurd. We
haven’t quite glorified God, yet.
Our answers to those who would
condemn us are how we glorify the Father in the manner of suffering as the Son
did.
We need wisdom in answering
appropriately.
Sometimes the answer is a silent
one, as we leave the questioner to reflect on what we have done (or not done).
Sometimes we need to answer in vocal terms, but we should pray for wisdom in
the moment to answer well, and not talk too much.
If we have reacted to a bad
circumstance in an absurdly good way—per the will of God—and we know a sense of
God’s support, by a peace that surpasses our understanding, we still need to be
ready to complete the
transaction; to answer an unbeliever’s wonder. Only God can help to this end.
When we answer in our flesh we
denigrate the anointed action. But when we answer in the Spirit our actions and
words act powerfully for God.
It may not be a bad thing to
explain to a nonbeliever that we cannot explain how God works miraculously
within us. We should not be able to ‘explain’ it. It is proof that God is in us
that we cannot describe completely how we have had the power, somehow, to rise
above the typical human response in bad circumstances.
Explanations of the hope in us
may, therefore, remain a mystery—a mystery with the allure to get unbelievers
curious in order that this mysterious power might also become theirs.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
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