Ready to Share (Friday Devotional)

But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you.

- 1 Peter 3:15

If you were to look in the trunk of my car, most of the things you’d see wouldn’t surprise you: a spare tire, a few tools, a couple of water bottles, and some reusable grocery bags. But those wouldn’t be the things you noticed first, because what takes up nearly a third of the floor space in my trunk is roughly 30 baseball caps.

I decided long ago that my souvenir of choice when visiting a new ballpark would be the hat worn by the home team, and that initial decision burgeoned into collecting the hats of now-defunct teams and minor league franchises as well. So when you see me around town, I’m as likely to be sporting a Brooklyn Dodgers cap as I am the Rangers’ colors (though you’ll never see me wearing the navy and orange of the Astros—that hat remains pristine and unworn in the back corner of the trunk.)

That explains the quantity of caps, but not why I store them all in the trunk together, taking up space I might need someday. The reason is simple: I’m most likely to wear one when I’m out and about running errands. I wanted to make sure I always had the hat I wanted on hand when the time came. I wanted to be prepared.

1 Peter 3:15 calls believers to a more significant kind of preparation, saying we must “always be ready” when someone inquires about the gospel. Rather than seeing evangelism as the exclusive domain of preachers and missionaries, we are told to be prepared to talk about our faith when opportunities arise.

The truth is that people are more likely to go to their friends with spiritual questions than they are to call the local pastor (at least initially.) With that in mind, every believer ought to have their spiritual trunk packed; we all ought to be able to explain the most basic tenants of our faith. Will you be able to answer every question? Probably not, but there’s a big difference between not having exactly what you need and not having anything at all.

So as you make you way through life, be sure you’re as prepared to share your testimony as I am for a sunny day. After all, I’m glad to always have something to put on my head—but far gladder that I know how to share who’s in my heart.