The Most Important Advice in Defending the Faith

Sometimes people will ask me what they should know in defending their faith to others.  There are, of course, many ways to answer that question – learning theology, apologetics, debating tactics, current events, and so on.  However, before you seek to do anything else, the most important admonition comes from the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian church.  This is key to successfully sharing the gospel on any level.

"We are giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God,

in much endurance,
in afflictions,
in hardships,
in distresses,
in beatings,
in imprisonments,
|in tumults,
in labors,
in sleeplessness,
in hunger,
in purity,
in knowledge,
in patience,
in kindness,
in the Holy Spirit,
in genuine love,
in the word of truth,
in the power of God;

by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left,
by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report;

regarded as deceivers and yet true;
as unknown yet well-known,
as dying yet behold, we live;
as punished yet not put to death,
as sorrowful yet always rejoicing,
as poor yet making many rich,
as having nothing yet possessing all things." (2 Corinthians 6:3-10)

Give no one the ability to dismiss the message because of the failings of the messenger!  Are you willing to live as Paul did above, knowing that you may suffer insults, discrimination, mocking or worse - and you don't retaliate? Are you willing to take on difficulty because you love the lost enough that you know it's worth it? Are you ready to believe that your true worth is not found in the comforts of this world but in obedience to your master? This is what the heart of ministry looks like in a Biblical worldview.May the Lord grant us such hearts as we seek to save a lost world.