Jan 27, 2023
Why are you doing
this?
"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 Peter 3:15 NASB
Peter challenges us
"to give an account for the hope that is in you." In the ESV, it
says "give a reason." Our fifth daily habit is to speak for
ourselves.
I watched another
video the other day about someone who gave advice on how to turn a
break-room conversation to spiritual things. I'm sure this person
is very good at those things. But I never had a particular "skill"
at manipulating conversations. Maybe I'm a 2nd class Christian in
that regard, but my experience has been that most of my coworkers
have one of 2 perspectives on bringing our faith to work: some
appreciate it and some do not.
Almost no one
appreciates us having an ulterior motive. If we want to become
friends with people simply because we appreciate them and want to
be friends, that seems more genuine than wanting to be friends with
them to get them to trust Jesus. I have to ask Jesus to give me a
genuine appreciation for others.
But I can serve others
all the time. (I don't, but I can...) When I serve them, I'm
talking about doing something for their benefit. Maybe I can change
the way I do my job to make theirs easier. Maybe I can buy them a
coffee. Maybe I can give them a ride. Anything like that is what we
talked about yesterday. Often, when we go out of our way to serve
people who don't do that for us, they'll ask. Why are you doing
this.
Peter is instructing
us. When asked, we should give an account. We don't have to try and
turn a conversation. We just serve until someone asks. Then we can
give an account. We talk about using "I" and "me" statements so we
can do it respectfully. We didn't do it to get them to do
something. We did it because we follow Jesus.
Today, practice how
you would answer a coworker who asked you, "Why are you doing
this?" The more natural you can make this the easier it will be.
And you'll have the confidence to serve more, too.