Your Part... God's Part

Hebrews 12:14 NIV:
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

Our human nature is subject to a variety of influences. As we grow physically, mentally and emotionally, so many engaging influences pattern our thinking, reasoning and acting. The kind of parents we had, the kind of friends we kept, the kind of habits we picked along the way, the quality of our decisions and the present-day realities around us all go towards forming and shaping what we become in our journey towards God's perfection.
There's however a note of caution here: we have a part to play in ensuring that we walk and work with God to bring about his eternal purposes for us. We have to align ourselves with God so that everything he has planned for us becomes a reality in our lives. God always plays his own part and it is as we key into his plans that we truly live his life.
What is our own part? As the verse says, we must MAKE EVERY EFFORT to live in peace with ALL men. We are enjoined to ensure that as far as it depends on us, there will be no malice or bitterness. God does not ask from us the impossible; he only asks us to do that which his grace has already made possible. His command to live in peace does not single out any class of men. It says ALL men, no matter how unlikeable or disagreeable they are, or how nasty they have been to you. God's love makes no distinction; our love for others must be patterned after God's example.
His holiness is mentioned in the same sentence as his command to live in peace. His holiness therefore, is his nature, as is his love, and anyone who claims to have God must have his nature of love and his nature of holiness. It even becomes more important, considering the end of the verse above. No one sees God without being holy. It is a statement of fact, backed up by evidence of God's unbreakable Word.
We must therefore seek his nature and his power, so we can live out his life on his own terms and be all that he has created us to be. Only then can we truly make impact in the workd he has placed us in. Rejoice in his holiness, for his time of favour is here.