“Pursue peace with everyone.” Hebrews 12:14
God just wrecks our thinking sometimes! I was reading along in my devotional time, minding my own business, and these words came out of nowhere to knock me over. Pursue peace with everyone? Really?
This does not seem to be the way to do things. Everything in our culture seems to cry out for us to be at war with others. Battle them, conquer them, hammer them into submission! Isn’t that how it’s done? Has not social media taught us that this is the way? Do our cultural, political and media leaders not demonstrate this to us each day?
And yet, I read God’s word, doing what Christians are supposed to do, only to stumble onto this truth that seems so counter cultural. I am confronted again with the fact that God’s way is often different than our way. I’m reminded that God has some hard tasks and big expectations for those who would follow him.
Three things about this command call for our close attention.
1. Our goal is peace. We are tempted to think our goal towards others is conquest. We are tempted to think we are to defeat them, subdue them and crush them. But the goal God gives us in our relationships with others is peace. We are reminded that our enemy is not our brother or sister. Our adversary is not the lost and confused of this world. Our true opponent is not the one who mocks or even persecutes us, but the evil one who has enslaved him and his thinking.
We should never compromise truth for peace. Peace isn’t found in error. We should never mistake the approval of this fallen world for peace. Darkness never approves of light. We can’t ultimately even ensure peace as it involves someone more than just ourselves. But peace is the goal. Winning the argument, talking the loudest or being the angriest are poor substitutes for what God wants from us in our relationships with others. God calls us to peace.
2. We are to pursue this goal of peace. We like the idea of others pursuing peace with us more than of us pursuing peace with others. But there it is, right there in the text. That stubborn, difficult, challenging word- pursue. We are told to make the pursuit of peace with others.
Pursuit means taking the initiative and being proactive. It means the goal of peace isn’t just a wish, but a calling. It means we do something about peace, just as we might do something about war. Battles happen because we engage in them. Peace can happen when we engage in it, when we seek it, when we do something to bring it about. While we can’t change the hearts of others, we can do our part by making the pursuit.
3. We are to pursue this goal of peace with everyone. This might be the most challenging part of the entire command. We are told to pursue peace and we might be willing to do that- with some. But with everyone? With the guy who is wrong? With the fellow who is combative? With people who are hard to like?
Pursuing peace with everyone means we will have to think about others as the Lord thinks about them. We will have to see the value of others even when we don’t agree with their values. We will have to choose to love even those not so lovable. This part of the verse is what knocks us over and wrecks our thinking. Everyone is a big, big word.
This command from Hebrews is going to take some work, some prayer and some attitude adjustments. But it is right there in God’s word. So, let’s think about relationships more as the Lord does than as does the world. Let’s put this one into practice, difficult as it may be. This command is desperately needed in our lives, churches and world. This age needs this word and this spirit more than ever. Never have we had a greater opportunity to shine in our dark world than this verse provides the opportunity for us to do.
Pursue peace with everyone.
Doug Munton 