BE A SET APART, PEACEMAKER

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

Hebrews 12:14-15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I don’t know about you but it seems like there is more and more conflict every day between people.

It plays out in our government in a big way and unfortunately there is a trickle-down effect to the general populace who take a stand with their political party and ideologies, fully ready to go to war against anyone who differs.

We also see conflict showing itself on our roadways. Road rage has become, no pun intended, all the rage these days as people battle against each other on the highways, even feeling bold enough to shoot at other drivers in the most extreme cases. Where I reside, the Hampton Roads area of the state of Virginia, there were three violent road rage incidents in just a two day period. One is one too many, I’m sure you can agree.

Within families, we find conflict happening way too frequently. Parents are at odds with their children or vice versa. Siblings can’t get along with one another, despite growing up together and sharing childhood fun together. In the worse cases, people excommunicate one another altogether.

And I would be remiss in leaving the church out of this discussion because the one place where you would hope conflict would be rejected often becomes the worst manifestation of it. This usually happens when people forget Christ and His supreme place of authority as the Head of the church.

So what’s the remedy for all this clashing, quarreling, and disagreement?

Enter the two verses today from our continuing study of Hebrews, chapter 12:

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Vv. 14-15

Here we find the Word of God exhorting every single Christ believer to “make every effort to live in peace with everyone”. The call to “make every effort” implies that Jesus followers aren’t to give up with it comes to striving for living in a peaceful co-existence with others. As we have already covered, there’s a lot of work to be done in this regard.

Go back to Jesus’ first formal teaching and preaching session, an event referred to as The Sermon on the Mount, and you will see Him saying this regarding those who are peacemakers:

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9

A proper peacemaker is one who is in relationship with the Prince of Peace, Jesus (Isaiah 9:6). This is why they will bear the identity of being God’s children because anyone who believes in Jesus as Savior automatically receives the Holy Spirit and that Holy Spirit qualifies them to be counted as God’s sons or daughters (Romans 8:14-17).

A follower of Jesus isn’t just set apart as a child of the God Most High but set apart from the world and its ways as well. This is what it means to be holy, the other exhortation central to our verses for today.

Why is holiness so important?

Well, first off, God has commanded us to it as we find Peter reminding us in his first letter:

“Just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16

God is the perfectly holy Lord who reigns over all creation and He has called His created ones to model His holiness. Anyone who submits themselves to Him and His leading will get to where He wants them to be as He sets them apart from the world and its ways.

There are consequences for failing to obey this command to peace and holiness. For we read in our passage today that a person failing to comply with God’s behavioral expectations would be falling short of His grace while allowing the “bitter root” of sinfulness to grow, causing trouble while defiling many. Find

Today and every day, commit yourself to do as God desires, submitting yourself to His will and way, and you will always be in a place where you strive to set yourself apart from the world while conscientiously working to live at peace with all.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.