but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 1 Peter 3:15
Peter tells us to be ready to defend our reason for hope. And there is only one reason for hope that can really be defended. Christ. Here’s why.
Nothing can truly offer hope unless it is eternal and perfectly good.
Things that are not eternal cannot offer true hope. Why? Because they don’t last. They fade. They fail. They falter. This includes so much of what we put our hope in. Our money. Our status. Our power. Our looks. Our legacy. All of these things will come to an end. Maybe even while you are still alive. But definitely in the near future after your death. And if we think about the really big picture, all things will come to an end when the earth dies and everything with it (unless God intervenes).
Things that are not perfectly good do not offer hope because they too will fail. They won’t satisfy the desperate need in your heart for that which is perfect. Let me give you two simple examples.
If your hope is found in your boyfriend or girlfriend, this will ultimately disappoint you. They will disappoint you. You will disappoint yourself. This other person is not perfectly good and no matter how cute they are this reality will reveal itself eventually. Eventually their personality will overshadow their looks. And if they have a great personality, trust me they are bringing baggage into the relationship. Eventually it will come out or it will be repressed and this once wonderful relationship will begin to unravel.
If your hope is in your career this too will fail to provide the perfect goodness that you are looking for. Your job will fail you or you will fail your job.
It’s actually quite simple. Only what is perfect won’t disappoint. Everything we put our hope in, is actually far from perfect. And the things that are close to perfect, don’t last.
So what or who can I put my hope in that is both eternal and perfectly good? Christ. He alone is the hope of glory.
Christ in you the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27.
Christ is the only defendable reason for hope. He alone is both eternal and good. Nothing else is. Nothing. Is he your hope?
