How Can You Be Christian When Everyone Thinks You Are An Evildoer?

1 Peter 1:12

Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge.

It would appear that the followers of Jesus are experiencing, if not outright persecution, at least deep suspicion from the Gentile community that surrounds them.  Remember that, at this time, the followers of Jesus are Jews, the movement is only slowly making its way into the Gentile community.  In fact, in the book of Acts, Paul is taking the lead in this shift.  Peter, by contrasting the followers of Jesus with the Gentile community, seems to indicate it is not happening as quickly here.

It appears that there is a deliberate distancing going on between the Jewish community and the followers of Jesus.  There seems to be a deliberate campaign to make the followers of Jesus into the bad guys.  Here Peter is advising them on how to act.

Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles,--This is the wider community among whom the followers of Jesus must live.

so that, though they malign you as evildoers, --Someone is setting them up as the bad guys, probably elements of the Jewish leadership seeking to expel the ‘malignancy’ of Jesus from ‘pure’ Jewish doctrine.

they may see your honorable deeds and –Peter is not advocating a counter-campaign of ‘the goodness of the Jesus followers’, rather, by an exemplary lifestyle, by proper actions, not simply words, he hopes for a different way.

glorify God when he comes to judge. –Notice how Peter is not interested in having the followers of Jesus have a good opinion among their neighbors, but rather in front of God.