Hebrews 12:14-17
Chasing Peace

Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled. See to it that no one becomes like Esau, an immoral and godless person, who sold his birthright for a single meal. You know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, even though he sought the blessing with tears.

New Revised Standard Version

This passage spoke volumes to its original audience about keeping the faith. As these Jewish-born believers faced increasing rejection from their own race and persecution from the Romans, the writer of Hebrews encourages them to hold fast to their beliefs and reject the huge temptations that would pull them away from Christ.

The temptations the writer feared most are those that would compromise the truth. By taking the easy way out of difficulties, the believers would literally "fall short" of the goal and cheat themselves out of the grace of God. By spreading these compromising ideas to others, they would be like the people described as "bitter roots" in Deuteronomy 29:18 that were strong forces leading believers from the truth. These roots we would consider weeds, growing up quickly, infiltrating the people, and "staining" and ruining the beliefs of others. The compromise is always to make it easier now by sacrificing what is less tangible later, as seen in the story of Esau. Esau justified to himself selling his double-share of the inheritance for a meal by thinking that he wouldn't survive to get the inheritance if he didn't eat -- right then -- the meal that his brother Jacob happened to have cooking on the fire. Under duress, we all are subject to making foolish decisions if we do not hold on tightly to the Truth.

We don't have to be expelled from synagogues and persecuted by the Roman Empire to understand these compromises. Even when we have it "easy" compared to others, we frequently are tempted by making our lives even easier. Once we start weakening and compromising, the weeds take hold, and we find ourselves rationalizing away who God called us to be.

And what did the writer of Hebrews say we are called to be? Holy chasers of peace.

The holiness or sanctification that we are to pursue can only come from God. It is God's gift to us, ours for the taking, and we should draw closer to God in all we do to be continually filled with God's grace, seen in God's presence in us and God's guidance for us.

It isn't enough just to have that kind of closeness with God, for we cannot truly love God without loving people. We are called to follow after peace in our dealings with all people. As much as we can, we are to seek to live "at one" with others, or as we would say, in harmony with others. For when we seek to be at peace with others, we are best able to let God's love show through us to them.

When we want to discount the value of others, we are called to seek peace with them instead, to show that we value their well-being.

When we want to judge or criticize others, we are called to seek peace with them instead, to explore how we can live at one rather than at odds with them.

When we are lured by anger and hate towards others, we are called to seek peace with them instead, to put aside our indignation at being wronged and view them as God views them.

When we want to manipulate and use others for our own gain, we are called to seek peace with them instead, to acknowledge and act on our unity under God with them, so we will remember that what tears another down tears us down as well.

The opposite of peace is the absence of God's agape love in us. Chasing peace is never easy, and we may never catch peace, but we are not called to be peacemakers with only our own resources. Instead, that skill and passion for peace is an outcome, a spiritual fruit growing out of God's love in us, and the results of our passion for peace is in God's hands.