Be ready....

"Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear (1 Peter 3:15)."

I have always loved this scripture and I feel an urgency to be ready now, be prepared to share my thoughts, my testimony and even to answer very specific questions....about what I believe, why I believe and even what I think about important issues of the day.  I have thoughts and opinions.  I need to be ready and not afraid to share them humbly, but passionately.  That means studying and pondering and sharing.

"Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed (D&C 11:21)."

"I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God and they shall be my people.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their inquity, and I will remember their sin no more (Jeremiah 31:33-34)."

"Open your mouths and they shall be filled (D&C 33:8)." 

"Verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men;  For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say (D&C 100:5-6)."

"Treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man (D&C 84:85)." 

Edmund Burke didn't actually say, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing," but he did say "when bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."  We can't assume that someone else will save the world for us or share our beliefs and testimony for us....we must stand up, we must be ready, we must open our mouths, we must act!

I'm reading a book right now about the start of the American Revolution and am reminded again of the sacrifice and courage and unknown future that was in front of the those brave leaders.  What role do we need to play today in leading out on important issues and sharing our faith?  I think we each have an important role and I want to work to be ready everyday to give an answer to anyone that might asking me what I hope for and what my hope is based on (see Moroni 7:41 for explanation of my fundamental hope).

I had an experience this week that made me think about this a little bit more.  There were a couple of people from the news standing on the corner outside my work asking a question that upset me, but I wasn't ready to respond.  It was an inappropriate question and what I would have liked to have said was something about the importance of not judging others and appreciating the hard word of people that are trying to do their best.  None of us are perfect.  We can all be doing better, but we should be kinder to each other.  "He that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her."  Jesus tells us to "go and sin no more."

As we study and ponder the scriptures and put the law in our hearts we will be ready to teach and live more like Christ.  I want to do better and be ready always!  :)