Specific Steps to Pursue Peace
How can I pursue peace with someone I resent?
Verse of the Day
“Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness — without it no one will see the Lord.”
Today’s Devotional
We just talked about pursuing peace a few days ago (September 10th) from the verse in Psalms 34:14. It’s interesting to me that it shows up again in Hebrews. I also like the New Living Translation of this verse: “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
Now, I don’t know about you, but I do not look in the mirror and see a holy person. What I do see is a person covered by the blood and grace of Jesus. But as I read the Bible, I also see lots of directions about how to embody the holiness that I’ve been given. I believe that the more I take the directions in the Bible seriously, and put them into practice in my life, the end result will be peace. Peace within my own spirit and peace in my relationships with others.
In the verse right after this one(Hebrews 12:15) , we are told to make sure that “no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many”. I’m no Bible scholar, but to me that verse is telling me to be on guard for any form of resentment that I might be holding on to, as well as any form of sin or rebellion.
Do you have any resentments that just linger? If so, it’s time to pull them out of your mental closet and deal with them. But here’s the key, dealing with a resentment does not mean confrontation. It means prayer. Let’s just look at this example. You have a friend that you were close to for years. But something went south. This may have happened last year or maybe decades ago. And to this day, every time you think of that person, there’s just an uncomfortable, “not right” feeling. That’s a resentment. (Most likely a small one, if it’s not someone you think of often.). In order to remove the bitter root of resentment, it’s time to start praying for that person. Praying that he will have all the blessings of God that you wish for yourself. Praying for you to have the grace of Jesus for that person. Praying that you will know that each of you handled your relationship the best way you could with what you knew at that time. Praying for forgiveness for yourself for the ways you mishandled the relationship. Asking God to help you to forgive him. And you pray those prayers every day until when you think of that person, you smile. You know that God loves him, that you love him, and that you are grateful for his presence in your life in that former season. In my opinion, that’s how you remove a resentment.
The beauty of this is that God reveals to me the resentments I need to work on as I am willing and able. He doesn’t reveal all of my resentments at once. That would be overwhelming, and God loves me too much for that. But the more I am willing, the more we uncover, and the more God molds and changes my heart. Today, removing resentments and embodying holiness are the ways I can pursue peace.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
Who do you have resentments toward? Write a prayer for that person today.
How else can you pursue holiness today? What would it look like if you were at peace with everyone? What steps can you take in that direction today?