Hope

When asked to give a reason for the hope that you have one should remember the beginning and the end of that passage found in I Peter 3.  It begins by saying “But in your hearts revere God.”  No proper response can be given for hope if one does not hold the Author and Perfecter of that hope in reverence.  And the last part, “do it with gentleness and respect.”, also requires a love of our neighbors born out of our love for God that sees everyone as His child whom He wishes to save.  In these, both lie our own acknowledgment that we were once outside that hope and in fact had no hope inside of us.  That hope was authored and ordained by God and “that God demonstrated his love toward us in this, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” And them.