Hope in the MisInformation Age (Part 2)

“Always be prepared,” Peter says, “to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” Who’s asking you that question?

In the misinformation age, there’s no shortage of access to information, opinion, and speculation on every subject, issue, and idea in our world. We’re only a few words in a search engine away from knowing something about anything. But where do we turn for hope? Peter assumes that people turn to Jesus’ followers and will inquire about the reason for their hope. He also assumes that Jesus’ followers are living in such a way that their hope is obvious, even if the reason isn’t. I don’t mean to be harsh, but I wonder if the church today might have a different dilemma: we tend to be prepared to give an answer to a question that no one is asking. If no one is asking about the reason for our hope, then perhaps our hope isn’t obvious.

Here’s a challenge from Lesslie Newbigin: “We must live in the kingdom of God in such a way that it provokes questions for which the Gospel is the answer.” What does that look like in our day? 

It looks like lives permeated by joy and peace, irrespective of cultural and political shifts and turmoil. Living lives permeated by joy and peace is a declaration to the world that Jesus is King and that Caesar (in whatever form) is not. If you live out of that reality, you’ll be asked about it, I’m sure.

It looks like being in a community of believers committed to one another in love where each is preferring the other’s needs. Everyone is well-supported and taken care of in a community where each one is looking out for the needs of everyone else because each self-giving individual is being supported and taken care of by any number of other self-giving individuals. You’ll be asked about that.

It looks like living in a quiet trust and confidence in the goodness and faithfulness of God when things in your personal life haven’t gone the way you expected. We mourn over any number of things, but we do so as people of hope. In a world without hope, someone will ask you about that.

What might it look like for you to live in such a way that your life “provokes questions for which the Gospel is the answer”? Ask the Lord what that should look like in your own life, and go confidently forward in those things. But be ready; someone might ask you about it.