Quick Note – 1 Peter 3:14-16 – Defending with Love

1 Peter 3:14-16 – 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 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, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

Last week, the Paris Olympics started with an opening ceremony that received a lot of backlash from the Christian community.  There was a scene in which drag queens were sitting at a table that seemed to depict Da Vinci’s The Lord’s Supper painting.  Although the Olympic committee said it was unintentional and that it was actually depicting another painting about Greek gods, it definitely looked like the Lord’s Supper and that they were mocking it.  Being a Christian, I was certainly offended. 

Now, I know that there are many media outlets saying that Christians are being too sensitive and that they are taking it out of context, and sure, maybe in this case we are, but I don’t think that it is wrong for Christians to stand up and defend our faith.  We should do so!  However, I think that we have begun to use the world’s attacks on us as a reason to be spiteful and hateful.  We have begun to bash and to destroy others who do not hold our beliefs and using our faith as a “just” reason to do so.  However, that is not how we are told to defend our faith. 

In our passage today, Peter makes it clear that as Christians we should be prepared to make a defense for what we believe in, but to do so with gentleness and respect.  We can respond.  We can speak up.  We can be bold and should make the truth known, but we should do so with gentleness, love, and respect.  We should not be using inflammatory rhetoric or derogatory words, but we should clearly make known why we believe what we do in love.  And more than that, we should live our lives in a way that proves that love and that faith.  We must live pure and holy lives, having a good conscience, so that they can do nothing but slander us (speak untruthfully), because our lives prove that we are living righteously. 

So be proud of your faith, my dear Christian.  Defend it with all your heart.  But do not do so in a way that defames the name of Christ.  Do so in love and in grace.  It is true that Jesus sat with the tax collectors and sinners, but He also rebuked them for that sin.  He did not allow that to continue.  However, when He rebuked, He did it with grace.  He called them out, but He did so with love.  Let us stand against sin, but let us do so with love.