But respect Christ as the holy Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to answer everyone who asks you to explain about the hope you have, but answer in a gentle way and with respect. Keep a clear conscience so that those who speak evil of your good life in Christ will be made ashamed. (1 Peter 3:15-16)

Ponder It.

• When have you experienced unhealthy disagreement?
• When have you experienced healthy disagreement?
• Would you identify yourself as an avid confronter, avoiding confronter, or assessing confronter?

Receive It. Disagreements usually include some kind of rebuttal, which involves an argument with proof. Perhaps a television courtroom scene comes to mind. Rebuttals can be driven by anger or they can be dry and boring, but when a rebuttal is God-driven, it will be driven by truth and love, because God-driven rebuttals are also God-directed. God wants us to know him. That means we need to ask questions and seek his answers. God isn’t intimidated by your questions. He wants to reveal himself to you, and it’s through your dialogue with him in search for answers that you will find and become more intimate with him. Unlike a court case, you won’t look for cold facts; there is nothing cold about God. When you’re authentically seeking God’s truth, you will most certainly find facts, but they will be through God’s warmth of mercy, grace, and love. Because God created you for relationship with him, and growing relationships are thriving with life, the proof you find will be very much alive. In our tolerance-driven world, it’s tempting to accept everyone’s beliefs, no matter how misguided or false they are, out of respect, but accepting who a person is and what she believes isn’t the same thing. Respecting what a person believes equally to the person isn’t respect at all. When you accept and respect someone, you’re invested in his or her life, which means you should, at times, ask questions and have tough discussions. That’s what you do in order to find truth with God. He’s not intimidated. Because you’re standing on his truth, as you let him lead, you don’t need to be intimidated either. Know truth. Always seek truth, and your rebuttal will be God-driven in content, approach and timing.

Live It. Gather evidence in the next 90 seconds. Write down everything you can think of that reveals life. How do you know you’re alive? How do you know the world around you is alive? Think big, and think small. The greatness of God is in the details.