DEVOTION
TO HEBREWS
SEE TO IT
Heb 12:14-17
14 Make every effort to live in
peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows
up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or
is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the
oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing,
he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the
blessing with tears.
NIV
Hopefully, we are making every
effort to live in peace with everyone, rather than just a select few, while either
ignoring all others or simply not making any effort to live in
peace with them. Then, of course, we got the holy part: we have consecrated ourselves to God, dedicated our lives in service to the Lord, and set ourselves apart from the world to God. By doing that we are assured
that we will see God. But now there is some act that we are being told must
accompany our making every effort and being holy. We are to see to it, that
means we are to make sure, be fully committed, as the Greek word means, look
diligently to make sure no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter
root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. This grace of God is the Charis
grace, the sweetness, the good will, the loving-kindness, the favor of God. All
of that is wrapped up in Jesus, for he is the grace of God. What we cannot be
sure of is if the author of this letter intends this to mean within or outside the
church. It would seem, because this letter is to the Hebrews, and everything
else has been about their living with each other, that this, looking
diligently, carries that same meaning about within the church. We know there
were members of that community of faith who were beginning to look back to their
Jewish roots in the law and thus starting to look away from the grace of God.
Does this apply to us in the post-modern church? Of course, we are not nor
would we think anyone would turn to the Old Testament covenant and try to live under
all the laws God established for the children of Israel, leaving the grace of
God behind. But the question does arise whether it is possible that some might
be trying to live by the grace of God, and some part of the law, having one
foot in his grace and the other in the law. If that is the case, then we are
told to help them see the errors of their way, so they will not miss out on the
grace of God. It is simple when we think about it. How can we produce some laws
of our own, some rules to live by, what we think it means to be holy by abiding
by certain don’ts that we think are bible based, but the bible is silent on,
and then we push ourselves toward certain rules to do things that we think makes
us a “Good Christian”, meaning we endeavor to do as many “Good works” and as can,
and maybe looking at the “Good works” more than at the grace of God. But how do
we make sure they do not miss out on the grace of God? How do we inform them of
the power of life in the grace of God? Is that our task? We know his grace, we
live by grace, by faith in Jesus for every aspect of life, but are we to tell others, show them the truth,
or are they right and we are missing something? We think not, but how do we see
to it.
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