Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
If we intend to follow Jesus, my Friends, then that should be our ultimate goal. We need to make every effort to live in peace and be holy. Bruh Paul in Chap. 12 of Hebrews is talking about running the race set before us, with patience, ‘Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God.’ (Heb.12:2) In other words, we should use Jesus as an example of one who underwent much tribulation, but never gave up, remained in obedience with God, even though He was chastened for our sakes. God will also chasten us when we err, and he quotes Prov.3:11-12 which talks about not despising the correction of the Lord, and not getting tired of His correction, for whom He LOVES, He corrects, just like an earthly father. But some of us get tired, both of the correction and the discipline we have to follow because they never seem to produce any immediate benefits; ‘nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.’ (Heb.12:11) And that’s the crux of the matter Friends. It all boils down to the strength of our belief system, of our faith. For to walk with Jesus we have to display enormous amounts of faith, and faith naturally encompasses sacrifice. He expects us to believe it, believe Him, and do as He asks, before we’re rewarded sometime in the future. It’s not an easy task, for by nature, we believe what we see, but in Jesus’ philosophy, we’ll see it, when we believe it. That goes back to Bruh Paul’s famous words on Hope. If you see it, why hope for it? ‘But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.’ (Rom.8:25) He warns us against disobedience; ‘wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees. And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way: but let it rather be healed.’ (Heb.12:12-13) Yes people, some of us runners in the race to glory have become so tired, that we’re stooped and dragging, and we need spiritual strength to straighten us up again. Now we ought to help each other in this respect, but that’s only possible up to a certain point. Each of us must pull ourselves up, straighten our own paths, and avoid obstacles that will spiritually weaken us. We all know our individual problems, and it’s basically up to us to work on them, for nobody can help us if we don’t want to be helped. That’s why Bruh Paul instructs us to ‘follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.’ It’s as simple as that Friends; if we don’t place peace and holiness at the top of our agenda, then ‘crapaud smoke we pipe.’ We won’t see God. Bruh David said it long ago: ‘Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it.’ (Ps.34:14) Jesus expanded on it. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.’ (Mat.5:8-9) So there you have it people; from Bruh David, Bruh Paul and Jesus. What more do we need to put it into action eh? But note, this peace, is not be earned by letting others take advantage of us, or compromising our faith. No way! None of those three listed above ever allowed anybody to ride roughshod over them, or compromised their faith for it, and neither should we. We’ve got to stand up strong for our rights and our beliefs. But by the same token, we should not go out of our way to cause strife or animosity. It’s a fine balance, but with the Holy Spirit of Jesus working within us, we can certainly accomplish it. So let’s get on the peace and holiness train Friends, and chug along joyfully in Jesus’ Name. Much LOVE!…peaceful, righteous people…followers of Christ…
If we intend to follow Jesus, my Friends, then that should be our ultimate goal. We need to make every effort to live in peace and be holy. Bruh Paul in Chap. 12 of Hebrews is talking about running the race set before us, with patience, ‘Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of God.’ (Heb.12:2) In other words, we should use Jesus as an example of one who underwent much tribulation, but never gave up, remained in obedience with God, even though He was chastened for our sakes. God will also chasten us when we err, and he quotes Prov.3:11-12 which talks about not despising the correction of the Lord, and not getting tired of His correction, for whom He LOVES, He corrects, just like an earthly father. But some of us get tired, both of the correction and the discipline we have to follow because they never seem to produce any immediate benefits; ‘nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.’ (Heb.12:11) And that’s the crux of the matter Friends. It all boils down to the strength of our belief system, of our faith. For to walk with Jesus we have to display enormous amounts of faith, and faith naturally encompasses sacrifice. He expects us to believe it, believe Him, and do as He asks, before we’re rewarded sometime in the future. It’s not an easy task, for by nature, we believe what we see, but in Jesus’ philosophy, we’ll see it, when we believe it. That goes back to Bruh Paul’s famous words on Hope. If you see it, why hope for it? ‘But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.’ (Rom.8:25) He warns us against disobedience; ‘wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees. And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way: but let it rather be healed.’ (Heb.12:12-13) Yes people, some of us runners in the race to glory have become so tired, that we’re stooped and dragging, and we need spiritual strength to straighten us up again. Now we ought to help each other in this respect, but that’s only possible up to a certain point. Each of us must pull ourselves up, straighten our own paths, and avoid obstacles that will spiritually weaken us. We all know our individual problems, and it’s basically up to us to work on them, for nobody can help us if we don’t want to be helped. That’s why Bruh Paul instructs us to ‘follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.’ It’s as simple as that Friends; if we don’t place peace and holiness at the top of our agenda, then ‘crapaud smoke we pipe.’ We won’t see God. Bruh David said it long ago: ‘Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it.’ (Ps.34:14) Jesus expanded on it. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.’ (Mat.5:8-9) So there you have it people; from Bruh David, Bruh Paul and Jesus. What more do we need to put it into action eh? But note, this peace, is not be earned by letting others take advantage of us, or compromising our faith. No way! None of those three listed above ever allowed anybody to ride roughshod over them, or compromised their faith for it, and neither should we. We’ve got to stand up strong for our rights and our beliefs. But by the same token, we should not go out of our way to cause strife or animosity. It’s a fine balance, but with the Holy Spirit of Jesus working within us, we can certainly accomplish it. So let’s get on the peace and holiness train Friends, and chug along joyfully in Jesus’ Name. Much LOVE!…peaceful, righteous people…followers of Christ…
SCRIP-BITS 