Have you ever been called on in school to answer a question that you didn't know? Or had a project due that you completely forgot? Or left your books at home, leaving you completely unprepared for class? Those are the worst-case scenarios if you are a student. Even adults have flashbacks to those horrendous days, and some will say that days like that still happen - days where you find yourself completely unprepared.
Days like this are not good. The feeling of complete dread when you realize you forgot something can be suffocating. Some people are okay with not being prepared because they like to go with the flow, but I have seen that no one likes to be caught unprepared. Some people try to "fake it till they make it" but mostly they end up getting called out. Getting caught can feel worse than not doing it in the first place. Picture it as getting caught with your hand stuck in a cookie jar after your mom told you no. When you get called out, you can practically feel your face morphing into the expression "a deer caught in headlights."
Of course, life is not going to be easy. It is hard to remember some things when it already feels like there are a million other things to do. People make mistakes and are going to be caught unprepared from time to time. Although being caught unprepared during the regular day-to-day is common, we should try our hardest not to be unprepared when it comes to topics related to the Bible.
In my freshman year of high school, the teacher focused on studying Biblical apologetics and Creation science. A verse that we studied during the apologetics course was 1 Perter 3:15. That verse states, "But 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:"
As born-again believers, we are ambassadors for Christ on earth. And just like you expect an ambassador to know about their country, people expect Christians to know about their faith. We do not need to be caught unprepared when someone asks us about the Bible. How are we supposed to spread the Word of God when we don't know anything about it?
As the verse above states, we need to be ready to give an answer for what we believe in. Joshua 1:8 states that we are supposed to meditate on God's words, but doing so doesn't only prosper us. When we learn about the Bible and keep that knowledge, it helps those around us. There are two groups of people who this helps.
Studying the Bible personally will help Christianity as a whole. It is known by our faith that we will be persecuted for being different and thinking another way than the world. People will try to attack us and what we believe. The world tries to sway people into thinking that evolution or something else formed the world that we know today. As Christians, we know the truth of creation. But can you defend it and why without saying, "Because the Bible said so"? Studying the Bible is the only way for us to give answers for our faith, to refute the claims of the world, and discredit those that attack us. It helps establish credibility that the world doesn't think Christians are capable of having.
We also help the unsaved when we study the Bible. If there are people genuinely curious about the Bible and want to learn, we should not deprive them by giving an empty answer. It gives the impression that we do not care about our faith and it is not important. This could cost us from saving many people. We need to be knowledgeable to give meaningful answers to help the lost and to show them that this is the most important decision that they could ever possibly make.
As Christians, we should try our hardest to prepare for the world and the people we will face. We should be able to give answers about our faith whether it is to defend or serve. Because the world and everything in it is unsteady and unpredictable, it can be impossible to be prepared for everything that we will face, but the least we can do is try.
