Peter speaks of hardships and persecutions as something practically inevitable for a Christian. And the matter is not even what exactly a Christian does, or how and what he believes, but how and by what he lives. The life of the Kingdom that a Christian carries within himself is unacceptable to the world; from this comes the inevitability of conflict.
Former friends and acquaintances usually become especially aggressive in such cases: they see that the person has changed, has become different and alien, but they cannot understand what has happened, because the changes are connected with something completely incomprehensible, ephemeral, and even fantastic to them. The first reaction in such a situation is the desire to return the old acquaintance to his former life immediately and by any means. But in a broader context as well, the life of a Christian turns out to be something incomprehensible, unnecessary, and even dangerous to the world: it becomes an alternative to the existing order of things, and to a person of this world such an alternative always appears destructive.
But the apostle calls us not to pay attention to this reaction from the world, but to live our own life and do our own work. And the main thing here is to do everything one says and does in the fullness of God’s presence. If you speak, speak as if you stand before God Himself, for a Christian by definition is called to live in His presence. Whatever you do, whatever you are occupied with, always check: is this God’s work that you are doing, does His power accompany you in your labors, does He need what you are occupied with? Let it be so that not only words sound in God’s presence, but every deed is done with His participation. Then everything will be both said and done rightly.
And persecutions and hardships in this case mean nothing: what matters is not what is done to a person, but what he himself does. If the commandment has not been broken, if the person has robbed no one, killed no one, stolen from no one, then no punishments will make him worse. The main thing is what the person himself chooses.
