Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14 NKJV)
We are commanded to pursue peace and holiness. This means we must make it our
aim to constantly love others and promote peace in our daily lives. We are also commanded to pursue holiness because without holiness no one can see the Lord.
God is holy, commands holiness and delights in holiness. Holiness is His very nature, desire and will. Jesus loved righteousness and hated sin and 1 Peter 1:16 says, for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
We should love what God loves and hate what God hates. This means that we must never flirt with sin and we must despise sin with a holy passion. We must flee all appearances of evil.
We must also not forget that God desires faith, and pleasing Him cannot be complete without faith. The Bible commands us to walk in faith by clinging to His word as the final authority on any topic or subject. We must have faith in the love that God has for us and the love that He expressed for us on the cross by dying in our place. From this faith we respond to His love by loving others, complete obedience, walking in His plans for our lives and absolute holiness.
As we do all these, we add prayer, praise, worship, thanksgiving, patience and perseverance. Then the God of peace who sees our love and faith will be with us.