"Striving For Peace" Among Geeks (In Search Of Truth, Hebrews 12:12-17)

(Hebrews 12:12-17, ESV)

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.


In previous verses, the author of Hebrews explained that the suffering we experience is actually discipline from God, who desires to train and mold our character to be more like his.

v. 12-13

In light of this perspective on suffering, the author returns to the "race of faith" metaphor used earlier and tells us to strengthen our weakness, mend our dysfunction and straighten our course toward the goal.

The author may have pulled this metaphor from Isaiah 35:3-4(ESV):

Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

As in previous verses in Hebrews, these words from Isaiah call readers to have a forward-looking perspective in the midst of current difficulties. In our anxiety, we can take strength from the fact that God will eventually come to set all of the wrong things right once and for all, and we will be rescued forever.

v. 14

It's also important in our "race of faith" to have peace with everyone. The author assumes, as we should, that the Christian life is lived in community with others. And peaceful relationships should be what we strive for. If we recurringly find ourselves angry with others, or find that they are angry or frustrated with us, we should strive after solutions to those problems rather than give in to apathy.

We're also commanded to strive after "holiness", a word that basically means "set apart for the purposes of God". This means seeing our daily lives and each moment as an opportunity to get on board with God's agenda. It means valuing what he values and being pained by what makes him grieve. Holiness is more than time dedicated to certain activities. Although it does involve that, holiness is a change in how we think, feel and respond to everything we experience.

Eventually, Yahweh will make us perfectly holy. It's the only way we will be compatible with him. And in the meantime we're commanded to strive toward what Yahweh will eventually make us to be.

v. 15

The ESV uses the phrase "fails to obtain the grace of God", which seems a little strange to me. The NASB translates it "comes short of the grace of God", which may be closer to the intended meaning.

The Greek word here is "hystereo", which literally means "to come late or too tardily, to be inferior in power, influence and rank, to fail, be wanting, to be in want of, lack." The first definition was used in the context of races and referred to being left behind in the race, failing to reach the goal and/or falling short of the end. Given the recurring race metaphor in this passage I lean toward this being the intended meaning here.

In other words, we are to see to it that no one falls behind or stops running this race of faith, since the consequence of this is living life outside of the grace of God. That kind of life is a painful, bitter path to find ourselves on and results in loss of reward (Hebrews 3:12-4:11, 5:11-6:12, 10:26-39).

We're also to make sure that no "root of bitterness" grows among us as believers. This is seemingly a reference to Deuteronomy 29:18-19. A "root of bitterness" springs up when someone in the community of believers begins adopting the false yet prevailing beliefs of the surrounding culture, prioritizing those beliefs over the truth. This person then develops bitterness toward the teaching of scripture, which can become infectious. Bitterness is not a product of the Holy Spirit. So when we see it in ourselves or in other believers, we need to be a part of the solution, rather than someone who enables the problem.

v. 16-17

As we run this race we're also to remain sexually pure. Specifically in the Greek we are to avoid prostituting our bodies or engaging in unlawful sexual activity. This command may or may not be independent of Esau, who married multiple Hittite wives(Genesis 26:34). In either case, the intimacy of marriage is intended to reflect the relationship between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:29-32) and shouldn't be experienced outside of that bond. This command is part of the list following "see to it" in verse 15. Which means as difficult or uncomfortable as it may be, it is our responsibility to confront Christians whom we know are engaging in sexual activity outside of marriage or are in some other way being unbiblical in their sexual activity. Sexual sin is not a sin above all other sins, but in our aim to be sensitive and gracious we also can't neglect dealing with this sin in ourselves, or neglect graciously helping other Christians confront and deal with it.

We also want to avoid being like Esau in how we view our inheritance. Esau traded his entire inheritance for a bowl of soup. He was so fixated on his desires in the moment that he gave up measureless blessing that waited for him in the future. As believers we want our perspective to be an eternal one, that factors in God's plans for us and for all of creation. Living in that way, instead of for the moment, is what results in a richer inheritance reward when Jesus fully brings his kingdom to the earth.

v.17

The only mention of Esau's attempted repentance is here, though the author assumes his readers know about this bit of history. It may have been a factoid passed down through tradition. The point being made is that our actions in this life have a finality to them. Today is the only shot we have at today. We can't make up for today tomorrow, because tomorrow has its own opportunities waiting. There is measureless forgiveness in Jesus when we fail to obey. But missed opportunities are still gone forever. There's no getting them back. So we're called to engage in this race of faith every moment.


SO WHAT'S IN THIS FOR GEEKS?

"Striving for peace with everyone" is something that stands out to me. It's the reason I've slowly changed my approach to reviews over the last several years. It's the reason I began setting aside my desire to be the "outrageous funny guy" that I used to try to be. As geeks I think we don't give enough value to having peace with everyone. Often we value sharing our opinion or being funny over having peace in our social interactions. But if we can't think of a gracious way to express ourselves, we should probably keep our mouths closed in most cases.

You might counter by saying that the truth needs to be said, even if we can't say it graciously. Or that sometimes people deserve a little bite in our response to them. But whether we're discussing heavy things like doctrine and human struggles or light things like opinions on entertainment, if we use words or tone that aren't gracious, our message is likely to be unheard anyway. (When was the last time you were persuaded by someone who expressed themselves in a slightly superior tone, or in subtly insulting words?)

As followers of Christ we want to have a voice in the lives of those we interact with, but our voice loses credibility the more we rub people the wrong way. Yes, it's their responsibility to sift through our sinful words and tone and hear the truth buried inside, but it's our responsibility to not give them sin to sift through! And on top of that, grace means "undeserved favor" or we might say "undeserved special treatment". So if we feel like we're being more tame and sensitive in expressing ourselves than we need to be, we're probably on our way to actually being "gracious".

I honestly think most geeks are unaware when they are not being careful enough with tone or words. I believe that's why we should pay attention to the reactions we receive from others. If we are in conflict with others (even in small ways) or notice people becoming defensive at our words, that's a cue to take stock of what we've said and how we've said it, and even ask the one offended, or an unbiased bystander, to be honest with us about how we are potentially coming across. Ideally we will learn to express ourselves without being abrasive or insensitive, but if we realize we're having trouble with that, "quiet listening" may be a good discipline to develop for a season.

The other thing that jumped out to me in this passage is the idea of living in holiness, with an eye on our inheritance. As I've said before, so much of being a geek is about enjoying things in the here and now, so it may be that we need to discipline ourselves even more than others to fix our eyes on eternity instead of what what we want here and now. An eternal perspective also lightens the loads we carry in the moment, and actually makes running this race easier.