#DailyDevotion Purse Peace & Holiness
Heb. 12 14Try hard to live in peace with everyone and to be holy. Without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one loses God’s grace, that no root with bitter fruit grows up to trouble you and so defiles many of you, 16that no one lives in sexual sin or is unholy like Esau, who for one meal sold his rights as the firstborn, 17You know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He had no chance to change his mind although he begged for it with tears.
We continue with the exhortations which are based on all the previous chapters of Hebrews. Their basis being Jesus is better than everything and He has offered us His peace and His holiness by grace, for free. Having been given His peace and holiness, we are to pursue that in our daily lives. Starting trouble for the sake of entertainment is not the way of Christ. Starting trouble because you are a free independent human being is not the way of Christ. Pursuing peace looks like Jesus going from the Garden to Golgatha in our daily lives. We will often sacrifice much for the sake of Jesus. There are two things which are not negotiable, Jesus and His teachings. When we stand for Him and His teachings peace with others will not be found. In all other cases, anything and everything can be sacrificed for Jesus.
We are to pursue holiness in our lives. First and foremost we go to the place where Jesus makes us holy, in His Word and His sacraments. Weekly and if possible daily participation in His Word, Baptism, Confession and Absolution, the LORD’s Supper and the gathering of His saints, feed, strengthen and direct us towards holiness of living. They make us holy and sustain our holiness. Then pursuing holiness is living that out in our lives. The Sermon on the Mount and on the Plain tell us what holiness of living looks like and what Christ expects of us. Paul’s exhortations in most of his letters direct us towards living out holy lives.
We are to see that no one loses God’s grace. How do we do that? We do that in a number of ways. First don’t let the bitter fruit grow up to trouble us and defile us. What is that? Unforgiveness and resentments. The only petition with explanation is forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us. Jesus says if we don’t forgive, neither will the Father forgive us. We see this in the parable of the wicked servant. We have been forgiven so much. How can we withhold forgiveness from those who ask us of it? How can we not place our resentments upon the cross of Christ and offer them up to the Father. If we don’t, we risk losing God’s grace, which was so freely given us through the innocent suffering and death of our LORD Jesus Christ.
Sexual sin is another way we can lose God’s grace. We have been made God’s holy temple. The Father dwells in our hearts. The Son dwells in our hearts. The Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts. Any sex outside of the bounds of marriage between a man and a woman defiles God’s temple. We are uniting God’s temple with someone or something illicit. The Holy Spirit will not stand for it.
The example of Esau is an example of the seed sown among the thorns. We can lose God’s grace when we place the value of the things of this world as more important than the things of God. When the things of this world prevent us from participating in the means of grace, our faith slowly dies. It could be even worse if we reject the faith because it gets in the way of living comfortably. Jesus and His gifts to us must be the most valuable things in our lives.
Almighty Father, give us continually Your Holy Spirit, so we may live peaceful and holy lives to the glory of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.