LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL
_By Pastor Mensa Otabil_
 
Wednesday 10th June 2026

A LIFE OF PEACE AND HOLINESS

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully 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*_
 
We achieve the things we pursue. If we seek for things that are spiritual, we receive spiritual things.
 
The Lord wants us to be mindful of what we pursue.
 
1. We must pursue peace.

 As members of the body of Christ, we must work on the relationships we have with other members of the body. In addition, we must develop decent connections with those who believe differently from us.
 
All Christians recognize love as the unique mark of our faith, yet we struggle to express the love of God. Even in the church and amongst those of the household of faith, Christians exhibit behaviour that is far removed from the love of God. Sadly, sometimes, we allow bitterness to affect our relationships.
 
When bitterness takes root in our hearts, it defiles us before the Lord and poisons our relationships.
 
2. We must pursue holiness.

 Holiness does not mean that we have a ‘holier than thou’ attitude. For us to be holy, we must be mindful that we belong to the Lord. We are not of ourselves. The life of the Christian is lived for the Lord.
 
To live sanctified lives, we must know what is holy and what is unholy. We must know which thoughts and which words are clean and which are unclean. We must also know which actions are clean and the actions that are unclean.
 
We must separate ourselves from what is unholy. When we know the holy from the unholy, we must turn away from the unholy and separate ourselves unto Holiness. That means we must live our lives with the awareness that the Lord has separated us unto Himself. Remember that we belong to Him and because we belong to Him, we must live for Him.
 
Those who are aware that they are set apart are able to live apart. Any Christian who becomes aware that he or she has been sanctified by Christ will find that living a holy life to the Lord is not difficult.
 
Prayer:

 Heavenly Father, you have called me to peace and holiness. Help me to exhibit your glory with my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.