1 Peter 13-18

{NIV}
13. Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. "Do not fear what they fear"; do not be frightened. 15But in your hearts, set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17It is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
18For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous and the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.

This passage rock n' rolls. This is the passage of scripture that really opened my eyes to see exactly what Jesus calls us to do, how to do it, and the pain that will most likely accompany it. But Peter reassures us in verse fourteen that we'll be blessed for our suffering. Being blessed by God seems so greater than being cursed by any man. Which is part of the reason I have the hope Peter is talking about in verse fifteen. This verse smacked me in the face when I read it, because so often when people ask me, "why are you a Christian?" my answer is "I don't know..I just believe in Jesus". That's not witnessing. At least it's not in my book. And mostly, it's hard to put into words exactly why I'm a Christian. But Jesus doesn't accept that excuse, either.  And when you do give an answer, do so with gentleness and respect- that way when people turn on you, you have a clear conscience.  That was smart of Peter to say, because it's easy to be rude about Christianity- I'll be the first to admit it. Sometimes you just want to smack someone with the Word {which I don't urge anyone to do} and say, "why can't you believe this? what's so hard about it?!" And so often, this is the attitude that I see from 'Christians'.  You probably know who I'm talking about, or at least someone/a group like this. What worries me the most is that they genuinely think what they are doing is correct. Which is scary, because it's a misrepresentation of Christ. But just how they are not working towards what Peter said, we must be careful that we {Christians} are. Even towards the rare ones.