The verse is: (NIV) "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander."
Now, to begin, I have been persecuted a lot in my school for my "God-Loud" faith. I am not always as careful in my responses as I should be to the people who do try and put me down, and I have to try really hard to keep my mouth shut sometimes. I have memorized a lot of scripture for a bible quizzing team I'm on, and a lot of times I feel like pulling a Jesus vs. Satan and spouting out verses in response.
"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
One particular moment left me steaming. We were reading a play out loud in Language arts, and a kid was supposed to throw down his cane in anger and stomp off. Instead he threw it at me and everyone started laughing. He walked up to me later, and said sorry, and that he hoped I forgave him because Jesus would always forgive him when he did bad stuff. I got pretty mad, probably to his pleasure, and I wanted to spit Hebrews 10:26-27 in his face.
"If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sin is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgement and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God."
However, I could hear the "Don't do it" calls echoing throughout my head, and I turned back to my seat and said nothing, only to hear "It's ok! Jesus forgives you, too!" at the back of the room. I refused to talk for the rest of the period, which luckily was only five minutes.
Days after, I was wondering why I had heard warning calls at the thought of blasting out Satan with scripture. Hadn't Jesus done that? However, I wasn't Jesus dealing with the enemy himself, I was an angry, spiteful kid who wanted to stuff another kid's words back in his mouth. Instead of spreading God's word with "gentleness and respect", I was spreading it hastily and angrily! That wasn't going to fill that kid's heart with regret that he was picking on a kind, sweet Christian, but he would probably been pretty pleased at the fact that he had managed to bother me so much.
