Place your hope in God

​9-16-21
Today's devotion is based on 1 Peter 3:15, "Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you."
Today our verse asks us to give an accounting for the hope we have in Christ. Our response to this question is one of the more critical responses we give. We must be ready to answer when asked, 'Why on earth are you a Christian?'
The church and other Christian institutions have not done a good job showing the love of Jesus to the world. So too, have we and other Christians as individuals, allowing our sinful nature to get in the way of living as God would have us do. This sinful nature is precisely why our hope must not rest in the work of human beings or human institutions, for they cannot save us.
We are Christians because we acknowledge Christ as the Son of God. His death and resurrection brought the healing of the relationship between humanity and God. This relationship is the hope that cannot be taken from us, and this is the hope we must lovingly share with our world.
Please pray with me, God, help us to answer those who want to know the cause of our faith and hope. May we speak and act with love and compassion so that the Spirit may move others to find their hope in you. In Jesus' holy name, I pray. Amen.