1 Peter 2:12 –
Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.
This gets into sticky subjects of how we live our lives before others. Although scripture is very clear about many sins of the world, many times as Christians we need to set ourselves apart from all sin. Drinking is the most favorite on for many. The Bible is clear about being a drunkard, yet Jesus and the disciples drank together. Today many church’s doctrines do not allow drinking of any sort, for the reasoning of this verse.
Especially as new believers we allow the sins of the world to creep into our lives. Stuff that seem no big deal, allows us to “drop” our guard. Also, our witness gets compromised even when we are doing stuff that is acceptable. We are asked to walk a “narrow path” and not attract everyone by keeping the “status quo!” So when we let the start of “sin” creep into our lives, even though nothing is wrong your witness to your neighbors may be compromised.
We need to figure out the balance between living a life that is unique but at the same time attractive to non-believers. I could go on judging churches that do this o that, which actually causes more to make “fun” of them than attract new believers. At the same time I find many churches that are so attractive to new believers, that the Gospel is missed. Peter is trying to make it clear that life can be wonderful as a Christian and we need to make sure that “hypocrisy” is avoided at all cost!