Articles
Commitment to Excellence
“Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:12).
Peter’s admonition reminds us of several sobering realities.
First, someone is watching us. Have you ever watched or listened to someone when he or she didn’t know you were paying any attention? Of course you have. If you have done that to others, rest assured that others are likewise observing you. Who is? Your children, grandchildren, or other young people you are around; your schoolmates, fellow workers, and neighbors; people with whom you do business; maybe even people you hardly know. Not always, but from time to time someone is paying close attention and making a judgment based on what he or she observes.
Second, the world is watching critically. Peter uses the term Gentiles, not in its technical sense, but of the world, of those who are not God’s people. He notes that they may look through faultfinding eyes, slandering you as an evildoer. That is no surprise. Remember how the world looked at Jesus. He “went about doing good,” yet He was variously regarded as a drunkard, a blasphemer, even demon possessed. “If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!” (Matthew 10:25). That brings us to Peter’s point. . .
We must go “above and beyond” to provide a good example. The previous verse commands us to “abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.” Any involvement in such things is all a faultfinding observer needs to dismiss us as evildoers, hypocrites. But this verse takes us a step further. Our behavior must be better than not bad; it must be excellent. This is the same word Paul used when he wrote, “For we have regard for what is honorable [excellent], not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men” (2 Corinthians 8:21). Even marginally bad speech, dress, conduct, entertainment, and transactions must be shunned. Of course, a critical watcher may twist the very best behavior into a charge of wrongdoing. The point is, don’t give him any extra ammunition.
Why is all this so important? Because for those who are watching us, we may be the means of God’s visitation. The expression day of visitation can refer to God’s punishment, as in Isaiah 10:3. But it can also refer to an opportunity for God’s mercy (Luke 19:44); that meaning fits better in our text. The hope is, our behavior will be such that those who at first reject God and His people will come to accept Him because they see nothing but good in us. Let each of us ask, Might someone do that based on watching me?
