Dad's Advice: Be Prepared to Give an Answer

Are you prepared to answer these "faith questions": Why are you hope-full? Who is your Lord? Where is your strength?
And can you answer them gently and with kindness?

We live in uncertain times. There’s just no getting away from that. I don’t want to be negative, but these are dangerous days. We face unprecedented threats and unusual dangers wherever we go. It’s good to be prepared. Let me tell you, you can be prepared with a first-aid kit, you can be prepared with a flashlight, you can be prepared with camping stove, you can be prepared with water and you can go down the list. But, if your heart is not right with the living God, you are totally unprepared for everything.

Why are you hopeful? “Always be prepared”, Peter says, “to give an answer to anyone who asks you about the reason for the hope that you have.” Why are you full of hope? What makes you hopefull? You notice I misspelled it intentionally. I want to be full, double L, of hope. What gives you hope in your life? You see over the years I have spoken with thousands of people. I originally as a pastor served as an evangelism pastor and one of my primary responsibilities was to train people to go into other people’s homes and to share their faith. Over the years I have truly spoken to thousands of people and I’ve asked a question time and again. The question is: If you were to die today and suddenly find yourself standing before God, and he were to say to you why should I let you into my heaven, what would you say to Him? I’ve heard fascinating answers over the years. I’ve heard answers from good church people who’ve said, “Well, I’ve always gone to church.” I’ve heard answers that go like this, “Well I live a good life.” I’ve heard answers like this, “Well, I think He would but I don’t think anyone can know that for sure.” I’ve heard answers that go like this, “I don’t have a prayer.” But you know what every single one of us can have a certain hope and that certain hope is not based on membership in an organization. It is not what is often called churchianity in America. It is all about knowing the living God and encountering His incredible love in Jesus Christ. I was born in a household where my mom and dad were faithful church attenders. Both of them came from families where their moms were very active in church. Both of them came from families where their dads never darkened the door. Both of my grandmothers were actually church organists in the same congregation, but neither of my grandfathers ever went to church. The only time I can remember my grandfathers going to church was on the day they were buried. You look at that and you say oh but they were wonderful people and they were. But in the last days and hours of my one grandfather’s life, this man who had never darkened the door of the church from the time he was married, came to know the love of God in Jesus Christ. His last words were these: “I am in Jesus arms.” What he came to understand is what true hope is all about. Because you see hope is not based on how good you’ve been, or how religious you are, or how much you know about the Bible, or how often you have attended worship services. Hope is based on one thing and one thing alone and that is the love of our amazing God who came down among us, and in the person of Jesus Christ actually stretched out His arms and died for us. Hope is found in the one who willingly went to the cross and who is risen from the grave and is coming back again. Hope is all about a relationship with Him. And when you know Him and know His great love He gives an assurance and here it is. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes, anyone who trusts in me has already passed from death to life.” Why are you hopefull? It’s because Jesus Christ died for you. It’s because Jesus died for me. It’s because the God who is the creator of all things and is stretched out the universe in a fashion beyond my ability to even start to comprehend, He loved me so much that He was willing to go the whole distance to buy me back from the power of sin and death and the devil. Why am I hopefull? It’s because Jesus is alive. It’s because He’s my Savior. It’s because I believe and trust in Him. It’s because He has stepped into my life and broken in and given me hope that is based not on my accomplishments but on His.