Luke 1:17 English Standard Version (ESV) “and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

1 Peter 3:15 English Standard Version (ESV) 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,

The heart prepared needs to have the message of hope explained in a way that is both gracious and honest. There is no respect in making light of the emotional turmoil of a heart that is suffering.  Allow them to speak about their pain without judgement.

When they repent and confess Christ will come to them. It is at this point that they will need to surrender to His Lordship. That surrender has to be heartfelt and a matter of relieving themselves of the pain they feel and not the guilt that has been justified by God.

Self-preservation is at the heart of salvation. They want to be saved from the pain that already exists in their hearts. What tells us how to treat the tender heart on the edge of salvation?

Our own tragic story.

Paul’s witness about his encounter with Christ is a one in a billion case. What we went through in meeting Christ at our moment of repentance and confession will be closer in reality to what is going on for that lost soul on the edge of salvation.

That witness is the defense of our faith placed in Christ. We should all have a clear understanding of what that process was in our own case and a clear and simple way to explain what happened to us. We should make it sincere and easy to understand.