Right after the writer of Hebrews reminds us that God disciplines us in order to provide spiritual vitality, he also encourages us to “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God.” [Heb 12:14-15 NKJV]
Three things to consider in that short sentence. First, we are to “pursue” peace with all people. I noticed that it doesn’t say we are to “achieve” peace with all people. That would be an impossible task. Some people just won’t make peace with us. Whatever their reaction is, however, we are still to pursue that possibility of peace through Christ Jesus.
In addition to pursuing peace with all people, we are to also pursue holiness. Just like we’ll not achieve peace with everyone, we are not going to achieve complete holiness until we stand in the presence of God. In this life we are going to fail. Still that doesn’t mean we simply give up or make excuses. Yes, we’re human, but we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God whose job it is to lead us into righteousness and holiness.
Last of all, we are to be very careful that we don’t “fall short of the grace of God.” That little phrase always confounds and amazes me. God’s grace, His unmerited favor is given to us for both salvation and for sanctification – for becoming conformed to the image of God’s Dear Son.
We need His grace for salvation because we can’t save ourselves. The price is too great to pay and we are bankrupt. We also need His grace to grow in our spiritual walk. It’s there, in abundance, ready and waiting for us to appropriate as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. God makes His grace available to us. It confounds me why He would do such a thing for us. It amazes me that we might leave His grace sitting there and not use it to become more and more like His Son, Christ Jesus our LORD.