Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Hebrews 12:14

What is your first takeaway from the verse above? When I read it, I first focused on the first phrase which sounds like a familiar theme in the New Testament – Live at peace with those around you.

Paul touched on this in his letter to the Romans –

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Romans 12:18

But we should also pay attention to the second part of the verse. Striving towards holiness should be our response to God’s grace in our lives –

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.  For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

1  Thessalonians 4:3-8

When we are in pursuit of each of these, may we be the kind of Christian Tozer aspired to be –