1 Peter 3:15  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,

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Surround yourself with people that agree with you and no one asks you to defend your faith.

Answer me this please. Why is it that those who are actively protesting for the right to continue in sin do not have opposing views standing against them with the truth? If Jesus leads us to witness, will He be with us? Will He not lead us?

Luke 8:37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.

John 12:36 “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

The Unbelief of the People

When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.

I would have to say that sinners need to come to the light when they find themselves in a position of fear. When sinners gather together in protest they encourage one another and do not fear God. They come looking for a fight. A group opposing them is exactly what they want and then the violence within them will explode.

Jesus was not drawn to unbelief. Everyone that gathered around Him in Mark 5:24 clung so close to Him that He struggled to move through the city. 

I would love it if someone would ask me about my hope. I am ready to answer that question.

Yet the crowds of Mark 5:24 were not asking Him anything. They just wanted to get next to His Holiness.

So I ask myself honestly, is my lamp lit?

Ephesians 6:16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

While Ephesians 6 implements many good instructions this one section is about the whole armor of God. The conclusion for that section ends with this statement.

Ephesians 6:19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel,

Think about how we got here from where we began yesterday. We began with forbidden acts from Torah and ended up here with preaching the gospel. This journey from point A to point G has occurred because my interests were peaked about the meaning of certain words.

Can every curious investigation lead us to the preaching of the gospel? Probably not but this is not the first time that this has happened to me. There is something comforting about allowing God’s Word to lead us to a conclusion that by repetition compels us to see His will. Some might call such a repetitive conclusion a calling. Maybe it is, but just because I ended up here does not mean this is everyone’s calling.

Your studies, when performed in faith, in seeking God, will lead you where God wants you.

This is how I got here. This is the path of my journey with my Lord. If you should apply your quiet time in a similar manner, it is possible that you might just hear God calling you.

We are similar but not the same. We are individually different parts of the body of Christ with the same head.

1 Corinthians 12:15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

A friend of mine once said “I am the big toe that keeps getting stubbed.”

My reply was “I feel your pain.”