You know, I have a mind to go back and create blogposts on the whole book of Hebrews. What an absolute treasure!!
I have a draft of a blogpost that I entitled “Israel 2.0.” In it, I intended to make a comparison of ancient Israel and the LDS church, highlighting the fact that, while God was willing to work with them to begin with, they both eventually fell out of God’s favor. There are, quite frankly, so many similarities, that it would undoubtedly end up a series of blogposts.
And in that same vein, Hebrews is such a great treasure to those coming out of a belief system that God, at one time, had a hand in—any belief system, not necessarily that put forth by a religious institution, though I believe that God has, at least twice, setup temporal institutions with religious rites and rituals that were only meant to draw our thoughts and devotions to something better.
The fact of the matter is that we grow in truth incrementally (the rate at which that happens being a separate matter), and it is always terribly unwise to find reasons to adhere to a level of truth we have already accepted when God wills to give us greater truth.
So, continuing on from the topic of the last blogpost...
Why does God chasten us? Because we are meant to become better than what we are and because, if we do not leave behind what we presently are, even if it was, at one time, an appropriate advancement from what we once were (but especially if not), we cannot become what he intends us to be.
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Gah! This verse!! This verse has allusions to the two great commandments. It actually admonishes us to pursue the natural consequences of keeping those commandments—love for our neighbor yields peace with all men and love of God yields holiness. It goes further to state that, without holiness, one is incapable of seeing the Lord—an experience that (anyone who has thoroughly read my blog should know) is a multi-faceted topic that is inexpressibly dear to my heart.
We know that “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:40)
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Verses 15 and 16 go hand in hand with verse 14 and set up, very well, the discussion found in later verses. But without jumping too far ahead, I will just say that “peace with all men” and “seeing the Lord” go hand in hand as a necessary step in our progression towards becoming like him. Verses 15 and 16 mention a few specific things that would prevent this progression from happening: failing of God’s grace, bitterness, sexual immorality, and profaneness—things that you will likely encounter and must overcome if you are to enjoy the blessing of associations that are higher and holier than those you presently enjoy.