Strive For Holiness

Hebrews 12:14 English Standard Version (ESV)

14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

In this passage the writer of the book of Hebrews is telling us to strive for peace (shalom)  with everyone. Everyone includes not only our brothers and sisters "in Messiah," but everyone. That includes those who may not fit into our community as acceptable individuals. How do you find shalom with those who are loud, boisterous, or abusive drunkards? How do you find shalom with those whom our natural instincts desire to hate? What about that person who abuses the cutest and most innocent animals in the most disgusting manner? What about the pedophile whom we would probably like to see castrated and locked away for the rest of his, or her life, or even worse? What about the radical Islamist terrorist who is beheading Christian toddlers, raping their mothers, selling them as sex slaves for $12.00, and crucifying their husbands right before their eyes? Yet, we are instructed to strive for peace with everyone. We are to pursue it. We are to chase after it as a righteous goal. I find it impossible without the grace of God working this virtue within our being. It cannot be done with our natural instincts. Yet, we are to pursue it.

 Does that mean we are to condone their sin? Does it mean that we are not to fight against the evil? Of course not. However, Yeshua commanded us to love our enemies and to pray for those who would despitefully use us. Did David not love Saul, even though Saul tried many times to kill him?

I must confess that I often find it difficult to perform sufficiently well in these areas. At the same time I cannot escape from my own past sins, or even those daily shortcomings in my life. I find myself continually missing the mark of God's goals for my life, and even my own expectations. Yet we often look down on others who are less spiritual than ourselves. We seem to judge our sins, and the sins of others, on some kind of sliding scale. Perhaps a scale of from one to ten with one being minor sins and ten being the most despicable and unforgivable abominations. God does not see it that way. In His eyes, sin is sin. All sin separates us from God. We cannot stop sinning on our own. Often, our sins are not even obvious to us. That is where the Spirit of Grace must be allowed to work in our lives.

Notice the second part of this verse. Not only are we to strive for peace, but we are also to strive for holiness. The verse goes even further to tell us that without holiness no one will see the Lord. Nowhere does it say that holiness is automatically imparted to us because, in an emotional moment in time, we found ourselves in front of a church accepting Yeshua (Jesus) as our Lord and now we are set for an eternity spent with Him in Heaven? I cannot find where Scripture teaches that concept in any proper context. We are to strive for holiness. We are to pursue it with all our hearts, with all our soul, and with all our strength. Without holiness, no one will see God. It matters not what you may have been taught by various congregational leaders. If what your congregation teaches is in conflict with what the Scriptures teach, it may be time to pray about finding a congregation that does believe and practice what the Scriptures teach.

What does it mean to pursue holiness? Holiness means to be separated from being identified with the fallen ways of this world. It means to be identified with God and His ways. It means to be sanctified, or set apart from the customs, traditions, and ways of this world in such a way that people of this world would find you peculiar.

 How do we do that? We do that by actively pursuing God's ways of doing things. We are instructed to break away from the traditions of men, and the deceptive doctrines of devils, which have crept into the churches and synagogues since Messiah returned to His Father in Heaven. How do we find His ways? A good start is by reading our Bibles prayerfully from the beginning of Genesis all the way through to the end of Revelation. By prayerfully, I mean to ask God in the authority of the name of His Son Yeshua Ha-Mashiach (Jesus the Messiah) to send His Ruach Ha-Kodesh (the Holy Spirit) to teach you His ways without your denominational biases and heresies. Ask him to open your eyes to His truth and then strive to do the things He commanded us to do. He commands us to walk as our example Messiah  Yeshua walked. Nowhere does Scripture tell us to keep on doing things the same way we had always done them in the past. Scripture commands us to be new creatures in Messiah. Without holiness, no one will see God. It's that simple.

Shalom,

Barry W. Gaugler