1 Peter 3:15 KJV
[15] 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:

Are you ready to give an answer to everyone who is asking why your hope is in Jesus? I'm asking this as a kind of rhetorical question for our own reflection. I'm asking myself and you to step up to the looking glass which the writer James mentions in chapter 1, verse 23 of his epistle to make sure we are doers and not forgetful hears of the word. In 1 Peter 4:17, the Apostle says it is time for judgement to begin with the house of God first. He goes on to tell us if the righteous shall scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? In 1 John 3:14, the disciple whom Jesus loved tells us: "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren."

Sure, most of us can tell the lost that God foreordained (pre planned) before He ever created the earth, that He would send His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die for our sins. We can tell lost people that He demonstrated this in Moses’ time by having them kill an offering of a perfect lamb to commemorate the Passover. That the prophet Isaiah prophesied hundreds of years beforehand that a Virgin would conceive of the Holy Spirit a "Holy thing" called Emmanuel, which means "God is with us". We can tell them that Jesus was and is God Himself, and like the Passover Lamb, Jesus offered Himself the perfect sacrifice for sin. We can tell that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, just like He said He would. We can tell the lost that Jesus appeared several times after His resurrection, one of those appearances to over 500 people at once. We can tell them that they witnessed Jesus ascend to Heaven on a cloud and that He sits at the right hand of the Father. We can tell them a myriad of other things, BUT!

BUT,

If we have not sanctified ourselves, it doesn't mean a thing. In other words, if we don't live the crucified life our witness is null and void.

Lost people are looking for a reason to hope, if we are living in meekness with a respectful fear of the Lord, we won't have to run the lost down and ask them if they know Jesus. They will seek us out and ask us to explain the reason for our hope, just like they did Jesus!