When a new girl was hired into the office where my wife, Terri, worked, she reported to a co-worker that Terri had used profanity in front of one of her patients. Without a second of hesitation, the coworker told her: “Oh no she did not. Terri would not say something like that. You must have misunderstood what she said.” That ended the controversy. My wife had demonstrated such a consistent godly testimony before all of the workers in the office that every one of them knew she would not talk or act sinfully.

When Peter wrote to Kingdom believers, they were often under attack by unbelieving Jews. These unsaved men were looking for any opportunity they could find to discredit the lives of Christians and their proclamation of the Lord Jesus Christ. To preserve their testimony, Peter told them: “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors…” (I Peter 2:13-14). Then he added: “For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men” (vs. 15). Refusing to pay taxes or being disrespectful of those in authority would have turned detractors off to listening about Christ. In contrast, if they conducted themselves in real godliness it would silence their critics and give credibility to their faith. Perhaps Peter was even thinking of the example of Daniel. When those who hated him “…sought to find an occasion against Daniel… they could find none occasion nor fault…” (Daniel 6:4). His godliness and “excellent spirit” echoed his faith. Peter wanted his fellow believing Jews to not use their “…liberty as a cloke for maliciousness, but as the servants of God, [to] honor all men” (I Peter 2:16-17). The Apostle Paul was on the exact same page when he urged believers in the Dispensation of Grace to live out their faith in genuine godliness. He instructed young men to maintain “…sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you” (Titus 2:8). A godly life gives unbelievers no ammunition to fire against our testimony or against the truth that eternal life is found in Christ alone, by faith alone. It simply silences the critics.

Dear believer, the lost may reject the gospel when you share it, but they cannot ignore a life transformed into genuine godliness. Silence your critics.