The Chase

      There are some things in life that you chase after.  You may find yourself chasing after your spouse saying, "You forgot your phone."  You may even find yourselves as being the one who is chased when you have forgotten something.  I often get reminded about this or that thing that gets left behind momentarily.  Fortunately, the race is slow as I don't move very fast anyway.  There have been times when I had to catch a certain chicken or even a certain pig.  Those were always fun times in one way or another.  The Scripture speaks of pursuing something different in the following passage of Scripture.  Hebrews 12:14 says, " Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:" 
      The word "follow" is one that has the meaning of "pursuing."   In this case, it is a pursuing that is intense and that there is nothing that is going to stop you from reaching the goal.  We had a beagle that had a keen nose and she would pursue something in the woods, jumping here and there as she kept her nose to the trail.  Even in the snow, she would pursue the scent, bouncing up and down with snow flying here and there.  The point for us is that we need to have that same desire to pursue two things that are in this verse of Scripture.  One of them is peace and the other one is holiness.  I never saw my beagle loose interest in the pursuit. I have however, seen a lot of people who lose interest in the pursuit of peace and holiness.  As one pursues peace, they may come to the conclusion that it is going to be a long race yet we have peace in the Lord Jesus Christ and all that He has done for us.  The pursuit of holiness enters our life in a constant battle between the flesh and the Spirit.  The writer of Hebrews made mention of the importance of this pursuit at the end of the sentence where he said, "...without which no man shall see the Lord."    That is a pretty good reason to pursue holiness.  Holiness has the sense of becoming more and more separated to the things of the Lord and less and less connected to the things of the world.  One replaces the other.  You should not separate from the world and then have nothing to replace it with.  That is why it is necessary to develop holiness in our spiritual lives.  We can find the course of holiness in the Word of God.  So, it is going to involve our relationship with God through His Word and prayer.  We should be amazed to find that the phrase "Scripture and Prayer to conform us to the image of God" is so vitally necessary in our Christian lives.  Are you getting tired of the race or are you determined that nothing is going to stop you in your pursuit of peace and holiness?  Praise God that He has the plan for our Christian lives.