PROCLAMATION
“Make every
effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one
will see The Lord.” Hebrews 12:14 (NIV)
EXPLANATION
These words
were written by an unknown human author under the influence of The Holy Spirit
of God to the Hebrew believers and indirectly to all believers. In this
twelfth chapter, the author begins by telling them to throw off sin and
everything which hinders them as the run their Christian race and to focus on
Christ. (Hebrews 12:1-2) Then he tells them that in their struggle
against sin that they have not yet experienced the worst of things. (Hebrews
12:4) He reminds them, as he quotes Proverbs 3:11-12, that no matter what
they are going through or what is to come, that God disciplines His children
because He disciplines those that He loves. (Hebrews 12:5-6) The author
then goes on to encourage them to live as holy as they can. (Hebrews 12:14)
APPLICATION
Some people
will not let you live in peace with them because they are not at peace with
themselves. It is better for us to avoid those people. (Proverbs 21:9 and
21:19) While none of us is perfect, we should strive to be as Christ-like
and as holy as we can. We should all strive to be holy because The Christ
which is within us is holy. (1 Peter 1:16) We should treat people as we
would like to be treated (Matthew 7:12) and not as they treat us. (Romans
12:17) When we know better, we should do better. (2 Peter 2:21)
Striving for peaceful living is a good thing, however striving to live holy is
even better and much more important.
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