1Peter 3:15 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.
One day, every man will stand in front of God and will give account for his life to Him. As is stands in the Scriptures, "every one of us shall give account of himself to God." (Romans 14:12). Every Christian knows it and takes it into account. However, somewhere in the background of this consciousness or subconsciousness there is a suspensory safety pin, pointing out that it is going to happen some time far in the future and therefore it is not necessary to worry about it too much at the moment.
God is telling us though, that he has other plans with our readiness for giving account as well. Peter says: "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." (1Peter 3:15)
We are supposed always to be ready to give account, not only at that time we stand in front of Lord at the final reckoning, but also now - today, tomorrow, this week, month and year. And to whom? "To every man that asketh you...". This means to anyone. Anyone, who asks us the "reason of the hope that is in you" (1Peter 3:15).
To give account in this sense means to be always ready to talk to people around us about how we live with God, about what we believe and what we expect from the life with Him both now and eternally, and about on what grounds we can be assured about it. This is what "giving account" means. And furthermore, it means not only we aren't surprised by such a situation, but we are expecting it and on a long-term basis we are focusing and aiming to such a situaion.
And not only the words that we say to someone, but also our deeds and the entire life (which is very well observed by people around us) bear witness to what it means to live with God, and show whether our words conform to our deeds. That's how we tell the "reason of the hope that is in us".
This kind of hope - the solid confidence about all the good we have in God and about everything He has promised us - has to be deeply anchored in us, which is possible only when God has the unique, privileged and permanently reserved supreme place in our lives (that is what "sanctify the Lord God in your hearts" means). So, we can give account only for what is really in us - for the harvest grown from the sown Word in us. If God is anchored in our heart like this, through the Word, our witness is trustworthy and effectual. If not, our witness is only an empty and unreliable agitation.
If we get to the situation, when we have to react quickly and unexpectedly have to tell the reason of hope (which is supposed to be in us) to people, it is a good reflection of state of our heart. Then we can see how solidly God is anchored in our heart.
