The pursuit of peace is a worthy pursuit, one that requires consistency and endurance. But life is great at throwing things in our pathway to trip us up and derail us from this noble quest for peace. Humanity is so broken that it makes the task difficult.
The author of Hebrews offers this advice: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14) We can often very easily rob our own peace by being selfish or negative or lazy. Often others steal our delicately balanced peace. But the advice of this verse is to follow peace or a lifestyle of peace with those around us. The word “follow” used here has many facets and nuances. Some are to pursue, to run after, to press on, to earnestly and eagerly seek in order to acquire a thing. (Strong’s Concordance/godrules.net) Do I eagerly and earnestly run after a peace-filled relationship with others in my life?
This passage offers an example of not following peace. The twin brothers, Jacob and Esau, did not follow peace or holiness in their relationship with each other. Jacob practiced deceit with his brother, and Esau lived for short-term goals. This resulted in remorse on Jacob’s side and bitterness on Esau’s. Both men could have avoided decades of the fallout of that bad relationship if they had employed peace and holiness.
Do I practice this principle? Do I earnestly follow peace within each relationship that I have? Do I pursue, run after, and press on to catch peace until I acquire it?
