Make Every Effort to Live at Peace

"Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." Hebrews 12:14-15

I have been giving this verse a lot of thought today.

"Make every effort to live in peace with all men." Exhaust yourself chasing after peace with others is what the writer is saying to followers of Jesus. With that said we have to understand peace will not always be achieved. There will be times when there are disagreements, but when there are, work toward a peaceful solution.

The problem with our country and our world right now is that we are too polarized. When there are disagreements it separates us creating an enemy for life. This is not the way of God, this is the way of the world. Nobody wants to take responsibility for their actions, they just want to blame those who don't agree with them. This is no way to chase after peace.

Culture has divided us into groups: rich and poor, black and white, Christian and Atheists, man and woman, liberal and conservative . . . Through these divisions we have made our enemy some really good people who just happen not to agree with us. This weakens us as a nation and a world because we are so busy fighting among each other we don't stand up to real enemies of the world.

I am in no way saying we should not stand up for what we believe in, because we should. What I am saying is we need to have peaceful disagreements and peaceful resolutions if at all possible so "that no bitter root grows and causes trouble and defile many (vs 15).

I am speaking to Christians right now because how we disagree matters. We should make every effort to live in peace with all men because the writer of Hebrews says it is tied to holiness. And the writer says without holiness people will not see God. We need to set the example for the world when it comes to peace. When we disagree with others we need to see to it that no one misses the grace of God in the process.

I got to hear Ravi Zacharias do a question and answer time several weeks ago. He has always been a guy who stands up for his Christian beliefs. When you hear him speak you can learn a lot on how to answer some of the tougher questions, but it is not his knowledge that is most impressive. It is the spirit in which he disagrees with others. He does it with grace. He honestly chases after peace in the way he stands up for truth. He is truly a modern day example of how we need to make every effort to live at peace with all men.

When I reflect on this verse I think of Jesus. How he was focused on the mission of grace. How he was pursuing holiness in such a way so people could see God. When he was betrayed, beaten, mocked and crucified he chased after a peaceful outcome. Without Jesus standing for truth in a peaceful manner we may never understand the grace of God.

Jesus was not passive. He was bold and courageous as he revealed the grace of God for all.

Now it is our turn.