Clear Vision

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14 KJV)

For the longest time when I read this verse, I imagined it to mean, Seek holiness and peace, because if you don't you won't be ready for Jesus at His second coming. But then something Bachelorette contestant Jason Illian said during an interview on The 700 Club flipped a light switch on about that verse. He spoke about seeing Jesus as our Guide.

To follow someone or something suggests a road or path. Anna Roundtree in The Heavens Opened describes following Jesus on a narrow path through a hellish world of screaming demons. Jesus appeared ahead of her as a lighted figure to guide her safely out. But she got distracted, and the distance between them increased. As he got farther away, the light that radiated off of him grew smaller and dimmer in her vision. His light didn't diminish, but her ability to see it (and him) did.

Ephesians 4:18 (The New Living Translation) says, "Their closed minds are full of darkness; they are far away from the life of God because they have shut their minds and hardened their hearts against him." Sin clouds our reasoning and shuts down our minds with darkness so we can't see Jesus guiding us step-by-step on the path we are to safely walk. Sin and strife blurs our eyes. Specifically, sin or unholiness darkens our vision, and strife confuses it.

But holiness--or living moment by moment separated from sin and separated unto righteousness--and peace clarifies our vision and enables us to see Jesus so we can follow him as our guide moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day. As Jesus said in John 8:12 & 11:9-10: "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life... Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him."

The Numerical Bible sums up Hebrews 12:14 this way:"And withal they must make straight paths for their feet, so that even the lame may not be turned out of the way, but rather be healed of their lameness. It is in God's path for us alone that power is found, whatever be the difficulties. The weaker we are, the more urgent should be our desire to walk where alone He can be with us; for what are all the difficulties then? And here we find not only strength, but healing. 'Peace with all men' was to be sought, also, not at the expense of holiness, but in holiness, which with the Lord is of the first necessity."