Keep Your Conduct Honourable

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honourable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
1 Peter 2:12

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.
1 Pe 2:15.
English Standard Version

So, basically, we have got to keep doing good things. It doesn’t matter what else is going on, we’ve got to keep behaving well and being kind. Even if people take offence, get you into trouble or dislike you. That’s not is easy is it? To keep behaving nicely and acting kindly when people are against us.
To honour those who dishonour us  is actually quite hard work. So why should we do it? Because as these verses indicate, in the end those who speak out against you will be silenced, your good actions will be seen and God will be glorified.
Such a great, amazing outcome for us, and God! Yet it is so hard to achieve. I remember one work situation where there was a person who was ’against’ me. They tried to quarrel with me whenever they could, tried to make me look and feel stupid. In the end it really got me down. I dreaded seeing that person, I really wanted to avoid them, but I couldn’t. I prayed hard to be removed from that workplace because I didn’t like it. I became emotionally distraught by what was happening everyday, it was painful. I was trying to be honourable, and to keep a good work ethic, but I didn’t really realise the truth in these verses - That God will be glorified and that the other person would eventually be silenced. I’m not sure that God has been glorified in that instance yet, or if they were silenced. Maybe one day I’ll find out, maybe not. It doesn’t really matter now, but what does matter is how you and I respond when we are faced with people that work against us.

Do what is right.

Keep your conduct honourable towards; work colleagues, friends, family and neighbours because in the end it will end well. Your good deeds will be recognised despite the odds. Your kindly character will be honoured eventually. In your conduct you will show the world that those who truly follow God will do good things no matter what. Even when all things seem against us, by our good Godly nature we will be making a positive influence on the world.

The reality is, this is extremely hard as I alluded to in my experience. The human nature wishes to hide away, run away or fight when we are rightly or wrongly accused. We want the situation to disappear, many times we probably pray for that to happen. Rarely do we want to continue to suffer.
I know, for me, I want everyone to love me, I don’t want people to speak ill of me, to be trying to catch me out in wrongdoing or to just putting down my character. Yet, as people of God we have to be prepared for this to happen at times.
These verses encourage us to not alter our behaviour or our actions. Keep your conduct upright, keep behaving well and keep doing those kind things. We are to continue to display the Godly character that is in us even against the odds.
What difference will this make?
Well, those around you will see you not becoming bitter or unforgiving, but acting well and maintaining your own righteousness. They will see someone who perseveres and maintains their peace, who remain kind and generous even when others mistreat them. Surely, by conducting yourself in this way those around you are seeing the love of Jesus displayed.

As for you - what will it do for you? For one thing it will help you to appreciate something of the love Jesus has for you. He persevered in loving you even when you denied him, ignored him and even forgot about him. What others do or can do to you is probably minuscule in comparison. You can also get closer to God - I know during these kind of times I lean on God more, I talk to Him more and rely on Him to get me through. Circumstances like these can increase our dependence on God and decrease our dependence on ourselves or others.

So, take heart. Keep going in the way you know you should go, ‘Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honourable’,  why? Because, ‘by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people’. It may take a while, but it will be worth it in the end!