Believe it … or not?

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear:

During the first great awakening, revivalist George Whitfield was preaching to coal miners in England. He asked one man, “What do you believe?” “Well, I believe the same as the church.” “And what does the church believe?” “Well, they believe the same as me.” Seeing he was getting nowhere, Whitfield said, “And what is it that you both believe?” “Well, I suppose the same thing.”

The majority of the things we believe were told us by someone we deem trustworthy. For example, we believe there is such a place as Zimbabwe because our geography teachers taught us so, but how many of us have actually been to see it? We couldn’t testify from personal experience but we believe it because reliable people have told us it’s true. The same goes for science, space, medicine, history, and the list goes on.

Sadly, one of the things most disputed in the world is the truth of the gospel. And even more sadly, many believers wouldn’t know how to defend it if anyone challenged them.

As believers, we have a responsibility to know and share the truth of the gospel. Let’s pray that the Lord would open up a door to share with the gospel with someone today … and be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within us — the harvest is just outside our doors for we were born for such a time as this!

Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.

More Devotions

Over the past few weeks, we’ve begun a series of devotions based on the Exodus wanderings of the Children of Israel, and their tragic mistakes which we can learn from and avoid. One powerful influence common to their failures was fear.

For the past two weeks we have examined lessons from the OT account of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt in hope of avoiding the errors and attitudes of the children of Israel. This week we will draw connections between the Exodus and the prophecies in the book of Revelation.