“FOLLOW PEACE WITH ALL MEN AND HOLINESS…”

          “Follow peace…, and holiness…”; Peace should be our leader giving us directions of attempts to follow and holiness should be our devotion to doing the right thing from within our mind, heart, and soul.  “..With all men…” is aimed towards all of mankind, meaning male and female species.  Do you consider yourself a part of the mankind race?  If your answer was “Yes” then I believe you are to follow peace with yourself first and then to others second.

If Peace and Holiness (devotion) is locked down in your heart, mind, and soul there is no greater power that can overcome you. Inside your body should be a walled fortress that you are the overseer under God’s leadership.  Whatever is within you will come out to those around you whether good or bad (Luke 6:45, Prov. 23:7). 

PEACE WITH YOURSELF

          “Peace with Yourself” is coming to the conclusion of accepting your physical abilities are what they are and you can do what you can do – nothing beyond what you are.  Looking at people around and allowing the thoughts of comparison is a foolish path to walk because others are what they are.  Uniqueness is within all of us no matter how greatly seen or unnoticeably small.  Uniqueness is still there within you and it is yours to own it with the peace and internal devotion.  You will achieve this on a moment by moment, day by day agreement of mind, body, and soul. They must be unified together to create that fortress inside of you.  A threefold cord is not easily broken (Eccl. 4:12).  The conclusion of “Peace with Yourself” comes from believing in you, hope of doing the right thing within yourself, and loving yourself as one of God’s unique creation.

HOLINESS WITH YOURSELF

          “Holiness with Yourself” is best viewed as a devotion you have committed yourself to being.  Holiness equals devotion, which represents loyalty, dedication, commitment, and care.  I have things in my life that I have personally committed to that will differ from others.  I do not force upon others what is unique to me personally.  For an example: some people are religiously about washing their hands.  This is a form of “Holiness” they have made a dedicated process for themselves.  They do not feel right until they have done it.  To them it is doing the right thing and keeps them on track.  This is a worthy cause, but not all of us are devoted to doing it all the time.  “Holiness” is several things we can be devoted to within ourselves that will be conveyed to those around us.  The conclusion of “Holiness with Yourself” comes from a love of devotion to something good that brings joy to you when you do it, loyalty to tolerating others in their ignorance, dedication to implying it gently with temperance, committed to producing goodness with meekness, and caring about what you allow yourself to believe (Gal. 5:22-23, James 3:17).

WITH ALL MANKIND

          We are all born with our bodies doing the thinking for us.  When the stomach (the body) is hungry it causes the baby to cry.  If any part of the body gets hurt it causes the baby to cry.  If the body soils upon itself it causes the baby to cry and if left unclean the irritation will cause the baby to cry.  I know you can think of many, many more examples.  Our body gets us looking eternally for things, before our internal thinking develops.  This is where selfishness develops because we were born crying to satisfy self.  “With all of Mankind” is first about reversing the looking externally to looking internally.  You have been fulfilling the needs of your body your whole life and will naturally continue to do so, but you need to retrain yourself to fulfill the needs of your mind, heart, and soul, which lives on the inside of your body and is the driver of your body- think about that.  Your body is simply the vehicle that taxis your spirit around.  A good or poor spirit driving their body around in public will be seen by others eventually.  “With all of Mankind” is first developing inside yourself moment by moment things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good reports, virtue, and things worth of praise to fuel your mind, heart and soul (Phil. 4:8).  There are good foods for your body and there are bad foods for your body.  It is the same with the inside driver of your body.  Your spirit needs good food to power it up for the day “With all of Mankind”.  The world is absolutely full of negative people, bad drama, and depressing events.  Feed your spirit first full of trueness, honesty, just, purity, beautiful things, good reports, virtuous, praise, and then you will be able to walk strong anywhere.

APPROACHMENT FORMULA

IF = Yes   THEN = Continue   ELSE = Change Path

IF (= Peace…)

1)   Approach every situation with the desire to interact peacefully from a heart of personal integrity injecting peace into a disturbing situation.

THEN (= Cooperation.)

2)   Complete the right actions necessary for the elements involved.

ELSE (= Resistance.)

3)   This is where the judgment must meet the action with “No Other Choice”.

     The judgment can be a wide range of decisions you must make in order to go forward, but it must be something you feel you can live with before God.  Your inside driver of the body lives with memories popping up at all times of the day or night whether good ones or bad ones, but in the end all your actions will be judged for you whether they were good ones or bad ones (1 Cor. 3:13-14, Hebrews 9:27).

          “Follow peace with all men and holiness…” is when your inside leader is Peace and your inside driver is focused on doing the right thing then you will live a life that has harmonious outcomes. If one is yelling and you start yelling the only thing that has been proven is you both can yell and you have got no where.  Be the better person approach with peace and see what happens.  Have a great day in-spite what comes your way.