“Pursue peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking diligently lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled…” Hebrews 12:14-15.

Some time ago a prophetess was invited to a small church to give words from God to any individuals whom the Lord may give her. I have heard some of the words she had given Christians in the past, and she was uncannily accurate.

On this particular evening she was introduced and began to speak, and within minutes a small family came in late and seated themselves near her. Two of the young ladies took out their knitting and began to knit absentmindedly.

Now this prophetess might have quietly leaned over to them and said, “Please do not knit, it distracts Me.”; and then calmly returned to her subject at hand.

Instead she chose to rant on about how cell phones are disrespectful, and how their knitting was also a sign of disrespect. And why did they not have enough common sense to know this.

In shock, the young ladies who had now become the center of this humiliating harangue put away their knitting. But the woman was not done, she lambasted them for their lack of humility, and that God was teaching them humility through her.

The prophetess was dead on, her words were exactly the same sort of harsh words which the abusive father of these ladies had screamed at them all of their lives.

They had come to this church which was known as a safe place for several years and always knitted because they were too hyper to sit still. Yet they were always quiet and respectful during the services and were never asked to put away their knitting.

During this harangue the pastor’s mother gasped, “Oh no!” Then they finally got up to leave, they wandered a bit, and a woman in the congregation held them for a while as they sobbed.

The young ladies’ mother came over to the woman who was comforting them and said, “What shall I do, I have enough trouble getting them to come to church as it is?” The mother also added that one of the ladies was knitting a scarf for the woman who attacked them.

As they left, the prophetess looked over and said, “Well I guess that’s four who will not be coming back.”

The pastor’s wife who is a sensitive woman followed them out and talked with them for a long time, and then she too left.

Beware, my friends, when Satan drops a bomb in a room the windows rattle and lives can be shattered. And this is just what happened everyone including the pastor were in such shock that they just sat there and did nothing.

The pastor is a good man who was blindsided by this woman whom he called a friend, and he had to run a lot of damage control after that. The good news is that the family did not give up and returned to the church.

We have all been hit and we all come up with what we should have said or done after the fact, but while hindsight is 20/20, it is useless for what has happened in the past; however, it can prepare us for the future. This is called experience.

For anyone who has opportunity to speak at a church, keep in mind that they are not all the same. Many churches are fairly straightforward, folks in the pews listening to the person in the pulpit, this with a number of variations.

Others, like the one we are speaking of here are like a hospital. There are at least two young ladies who are autistic, several cancer survivors, others from abusive families, and nearly all of them ex-drug abusers.

Folks must always speak the truth to one another and to a congregation, but do it in love, or do not speak at all.

“…we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ – from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying [building up] of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:14-16.

So what is the point to all of this? Simply that Satan is capable of rending the heart of the believer and leaving them with a festering root of bitterness that can eventually cause them to become unable to serve God. And he does this primarily through other Christians, not just godless men.

The advice given in Hebrews 12:14-15 and all of chapter 12 is good advice for these young women, and all who have been offended. It is also good advice for the prophetess in whom the root of bitterness had already taken hold.

The first phrase of Hebrews 12:14 is “Pursue peace with all men…” The word pursue here means not just to go after or try, rather it means a single minded pursuit of peace with others.

The words, “Pursue peace with all men…” means everyone, though the verses below show us how to be at peace with our brethren, we should also endeavor to live at peace with those around us.

Too often we will have an altercation with another person and even after apologies have been made, grudges are held. This is not pursuit of peace.

“Then Peter came to Him and said, ‘Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.’” Matthew 18:21-22.

“Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” Luke 17:3-4.

“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.” Matthew 18:15.

The word brother is used in all three of these passages, “if your brother sins against you”; in every case this means a brother in Christ.

The unbeliever may very well take advantage of you, so yes, forgive, but do not let them use you as a doormat. Jesus gives us these words of wisdom to follow.

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” Matthew 10:16.

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.” Mark 11:25-26.

Notice here that it says, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him…” in this case it really means anyone.

Let us go back to the story of the prophetess and the ladies who were knitting. Believe it or not, the verses quoted above in Mark 11:25-26 mean that these young ladies need to forgive, from the heart, this woman for her vicious words.

In this case, it means to forgive her whether she apologizes to them or not. If you reread the verses, you will find that this is something between them, and God. Not between them and their abuser.

To take this a step further, these young ladies should also forgive their abusive father who tried to destroy them with his vile words.

I sound a bit like a Monday morning quarterback with my, they should have done this or they should have done that, but the words are from God, not me.

While forgiveness goes against our sin nature, it is a practical thing. As long as we are angry and unforgiving, the person who sinned against us will have a hook in us.

The abuser, though perhaps dead or long gone away still reaches out to make us angry or fearful. This causes health problems both mental and physical.

It also wastes times when we could be happy by causing us to dwell on times that were evil; robbing us of both our present and our past. The devil always wins with this.

Consider this difficult path of forgiveness to bring light and joy into your life my dear friends.

“Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify [build up] another.” Romans 14:19.

The next thing we read in our verse is as follows.

“Pursue peace with all men, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord…” Hebrews 12:14.

The words “holiness without which no one will see the Lord” does not mean that if the Christian is not holy enough they will not go to heaven.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

“… [in Christ we are to] put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:22-24.

The Christian is not just indwelt by the Holy Spirit they have been given a new nature, one wherein they are seen by God as holy and sinless, a new creation.

It is impossible for the natural man (the unbeliever) to be holy because of his fallen nature which can only be changed through belief in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for their sins.

“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1:2-4.

As a Christian we as new creatures have holiness imputed to us and a real desire to live a holy sanctified (set apart) life. Folks who do not have holiness are those who have not accepted Christ as Savior, and therefore will not see God.

Whether the Christian lives a mediocre life of holiness or whether they excel at keeping themselves unspotted from the world, God always wants us to reach higher. We do this both for His glory and for our own good in life.

“…but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” 1 Peter 1:15-16.

“…looking diligently lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled…” Hebrews 12:15.

The Christian must pursue peace, must seek to live a holy life, and must look diligently for any stumbling blocks that would cause them to fall into the despair of feeling deserted by God, and then by deserting God.

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16.

“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32.

Root of Bitterness taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 5-5-16, updated on 9-8-23.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.