"....Make straight paths for your feet....Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord...; lest there be any...like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright." (From Heb. 12:12-17)
Holiness is a single focused life. There is no way to run, "straight paths," or to have, "peace," than to, "Strive for...the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." (ESV)
At one point in Bill Cosby's famous routine on Noah and the Ark, the dialogue between Noah and God goes something like this: God says, "You got two male hippos there; you gotta get a female." To which Noah replies, "I won't do that; you change one." God says, "Come on now, you know I don't work like that." This is popular theology today. "I won't do that; you change [me/this/that]."
The section of Hebrews 12 from verse 12 to 17 is another one of those "scary" passages in the Bible. A person can determine the rest of his life based on what he does with, "one morsel of food." In the NIV, the passage closes with an ominous warning for us all, "Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done." The Bible reveals that God did, "not change what he had done," either.
Galatians tells us, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." A man once joked that he sowed his wild oats, then prayed for a crop failure. It does not work that way, yet this is exactly what Esau was pleading for. Life confirms Job's observation, "I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it." Now there are some teachers today who delude people into thinking they can do absolutely anything they wish in life and our Lord Jesus will change the consequences. Has that worked for you?!?
The passage opens with the "best formula" for evading a life such as Esau's, "....Make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed." This is the reason for the exhortation in 12:2. Esau was looking everywhere except to Jesus, as his grandfather did. And it has not, nor ever will change for you and me. The only way you and I can run, "straight paths," is, "Looking unto Jesus." This, my friend, is, "the holiness without which no one will see the Lord."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I look to You, Who Alone is, "the Holiness." Amen.
***************
Will Israel Have to Go it Alone? www.apf327.blogspot.com
Unreached People Group for the Day: www.apfunreachedpeoples.blogspot.com
Holiness is a single focused life. There is no way to run, "straight paths," or to have, "peace," than to, "Strive for...the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." (ESV)
At one point in Bill Cosby's famous routine on Noah and the Ark, the dialogue between Noah and God goes something like this: God says, "You got two male hippos there; you gotta get a female." To which Noah replies, "I won't do that; you change one." God says, "Come on now, you know I don't work like that." This is popular theology today. "I won't do that; you change [me/this/that]."
The section of Hebrews 12 from verse 12 to 17 is another one of those "scary" passages in the Bible. A person can determine the rest of his life based on what he does with, "one morsel of food." In the NIV, the passage closes with an ominous warning for us all, "Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done." The Bible reveals that God did, "not change what he had done," either.
Galatians tells us, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." A man once joked that he sowed his wild oats, then prayed for a crop failure. It does not work that way, yet this is exactly what Esau was pleading for. Life confirms Job's observation, "I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it." Now there are some teachers today who delude people into thinking they can do absolutely anything they wish in life and our Lord Jesus will change the consequences. Has that worked for you?!?
The passage opens with the "best formula" for evading a life such as Esau's, "....Make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed." This is the reason for the exhortation in 12:2. Esau was looking everywhere except to Jesus, as his grandfather did. And it has not, nor ever will change for you and me. The only way you and I can run, "straight paths," is, "Looking unto Jesus." This, my friend, is, "the holiness without which no one will see the Lord."
Father, in Jesus' Name, I look to You, Who Alone is, "the Holiness." Amen.
***************
Will Israel Have to Go it Alone? www.apf327.blogspot.com
Unreached People Group for the Day: www.apfunreachedpeoples.blogspot.com
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
