Steps to Peace
Does peace on your relationships help with endurance?
Verse of the Day
“Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness — without it no one will see the Lord.”
Today’s Devotional
When I’m in a relationship that is full of strife and conflict, I want it fixed or I want out. I’m not saying that is right, I’m simply saying that how I feel. And I think I’m not alone in that sentiment. I hear people talk all the time about not wanting anything to do with their families because of all the relational drama. I’ve heard people say the same thing about church.
It stands to reason then, that we are more likely to be people of spiritual endurance if we have peace in our relationships. And we achieve peaceful relationships by actively pursuing that peace. It doesn’t just happen. Today’s verse comes after a section of Scripture that is talking about enduring divine discipline. God disciplines us because He loves us, to help us to grow and mature. At the end of the section encouraging us to endure Godly discipline, this is what it says:
“So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong. Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.” (Hebrews 12:12-15 NLT)
What if difficulty in our relationships is one of the ways God disciplines us? What if working at living at peace with everyone and removing any and all bitterness is a tangible way we can obey our Father?
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. Being a person of peace will help me to endure with dignity the difficulties of this life of faith.
What is a poisonous root of bitterness? For me, it’s resentment. It’s any feeling that lingers that is based in a sense of personal hurt. And we need to be clear, if we allow these feeling to take root, they will bear fruit, and the fruit will be bitter.
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.
I heard in a sermon recently that “if I talk about people to other people, I will grow to hate them. But if I talk to God about people, I can’t help but love them the way He does.”
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 in all my relationships.
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?