Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness-without it no one will see the Lord. Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and by it, defiling many. Hebrews 12:14-15 HCSB
If you have peace in your relationships, then you know that you have to work to maintain that peace. You have to pick and choose your battles. You have to remain silent at times when things are driving you up the wall. You may have to calmly sit down with the other person and address something that bothers you and pray that they perceive it well. You have to work at it. The same is true with holiness. On our own, we are really vile creatures that are hopeless, but by God’s grace, we can be holy. We can pray for God to fill us with His Holy Spirit. We can choose holiness in our daily lives and our daily interactions with others.
As I was reading our scripture passage this morning, the second verse caught my attention. It says that we should make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God. Now we know that in Romans 3:23 that it tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But this scripture tells us that we need to make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God. We know that God extends his grace to all, so how could someone fall short of the grace of God. Well, quite simply, we can choose to reject God’s grace. If you continue reading in Hebrews 12:16 it says that we should make sure that there isn’t any immoral or irreverent person like Esau. As you may recall, Esau sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for one meal. Then later when he wanted to inherit his birthright or his blessing from his father, he was rejected because there had been no opportunity for repentance, though he sought it with tears.
I don’t know about you, but to me verse 15 is telling us that we have a responsibility for our fellow Christians to uphold them and strengthen them when they are weak. We are told not to let a root of bitterness spring up because it will cause trouble and defile many. I don’t know if you have ever witnessed this, but the results can be disastrous. I have seen this in my biological family and in my former church family. One person can become bitter and root themselves in their bitterness and destroy an entire family or congregation. Romans 14:13 tells us that we are not to pass judgment on one another, but decide never to put a stumbling block or a hindrance in the way of a brother. Matthew 18:7 tells us that it is necessary for temptations to come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes.
So, today, we have a choice to make. We can pursue peace and holiness or we can choose bitterness. We have a local pizza parlor that serves pizza with your choice of the traditional (tangy) sauce or sweet sauce. Of course, I always choose the sweet. I get that some people don’t like a lot of sugar, but I do. My stepson used to favor sour candy over sweet, go figure. But very few people would choose something that is extremely bitter. But this is exactly what we do when we refuse to forgive. This is exactly what we do when we don’t lift others that offend us up to God. We are not the judge. We are not the ones that should determine whether they stand or fall. This is for God to decide. We should help them as much as possible, pursue peace as much as possible and pray for them. The bible tells us in Matthew 5:44 to love our enemies and pray for those that persecute us. It’s not the easy thing to do, but it is the right thing to do.
As I write this this morning, I am convicted that this is an area where I often fall short. So, I ask you to pray for me and I pray for you that if you too suffer in this area that you will turn to God and allow Him to help you to overcome this.
You can’t have bitterness and sweetness all wrapped up together, we must choose one or the other. You must pursue holiness and peace on a daily basis. I pray that we choose wisely and pursue as God has instructed us to do.
Have a great day!