They gossip about you, they talk behind your back so very often, they attack you, suggesting that you do things you would never do. But you continue to live a godly life so that ‘they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation [behaviour that means] in Christ.’ Christ’s disciples show the unreasonableness of this attitude as they consistently live out their lives before the world in such a way that the false accuser finds that he has an uphill task to maintain his case against the church. It may be that the work of the Spirit of God in the hearts of those who are critical of you, who are your enemies, brings them to shame, leading them to ask you why you believe what you believe. It may be, that as you speak to them, the Spirit of God will work and open their hearts and make them ashamed on unbelief and antagonism, and if not, well, they will certainly be ashamed at the end of life, when they stand before God. But one way or another, all who are hostile to us, as we probably were once hostile to Christians before our conversion, will all be ashamed, disgraced is the full sense of the Greek word.
If that colleague asked me, ‘What makes you so peaceful and calm and level-headed when we have a catastrophe?’, what would you say? Think about it, and you will be armed. You can't say much at work very often. Sometimes you are not allowed to. But you have breaks and occasional walks, and then you can, and then there can be friendship, and witness of course is often best carried out one-to-one. ‘Be ready always.’ You are never off duty. You're always being watched. Your reactions to provocation or even to rudeness are noted. People know soon enough that you are a Christian and you are under scrutiny. At home – do you forget all about it at home? – at work, wherever you are.