12:12 Therefore, lift the drooping hands and weak knees,13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:12–14
In verse 12 the word ‘therefore’ is reminding us to think about all that has been written in chapter 11 up to verse 12 of chapter 12…the word therefore is a reminder to reflect on prior passages…specifically:
…we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses [12:1] who have gone on before us in faith…therefore:
…we ought to run after them with endurance laying aside every encumbrance and sin…looking to the founder and perfecter of our faith [2]
…while running with perseverance the race that is set before us [1]
…fixing our eyes on Jesus [2] who strengthens us every inch of the way.
All the while…resisting the intrusions in life that distract and destroy our fellowship with God…but at the same time considering it joy when God chastens and disciplines us.
Remembering that as sons and daughters God’s disciplining of us is for the purpose of molding us for the completion of the purpose for which we were created…a purpose He has for us…out of love.
So in this section of Hebrews the author’s emphasis is more on the practical application of the Christian’s life…telling us how to live for Christ.
We’ll see three applications of these truths that follow on the other side of the ‘therefore’ in verse 12 and the way we are to apply those teachings:
- Therefore, don’t stray from the straight path we’ve been put on.
- Therefore, strive for peace with one another and holiness.
- Therefore, walk intent on the pleasure of God’s blessing, not intent on the pleasures of sin’s false promises.
Just a cursory look at these three applications reveals a highly practical applicational kind of message…one that is instructional and corrective.
First is… don’t stray from the straight path we’ve been put on…as we run the race of life, we must run with our eyes opened and focused on Christ…as we run the race of faith, we must resist those intrusions in life that distract and destroy our fellowship with God.
The exhortation here to the reader is to encourage all who are exhausted…to assist each other daily…to strengthen those who are feeble…to make straight paths for your feet [12:13].
The writer continues to use the analogy of an athlete running a race…I ran track in high school and college…since then I’ve run 20 marathons and over 100 half-marathons…one thing about road races…the shortest distance between two points is a straight line…you don’t want to be adding any unnecessary distance.
When you round corners you don’t run on the outside…you run through the middle of the curve to reduce the amount of distance…making it more of a straight line… serious runners make use of their energy and the space around them by being smart in how they run.
Since our lives are like running a race, we need to be running on a straight path …not wandering from side to side using up energy and getting off the straight line to the finish…we need to be deliberate with how we move and in how we run all the way to the finish line.
lift the drooping hands and weak knees so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
In long distance races the closer you get to the finish line the worse you feel… after about mile 22 things start to get real bad really quick…legs hurt…feet hurt back hurts…danger of dehydration…the experience of “hitting the wall” …the last mile of a Marathon is a picture of weak hands and feeble knees.
Something that is implied in this verse is that the writer is calling for his readers to “deal first with yourselves” …to not be despondent because of your tribulations which may include trials and disciplining from God…it’s easy to want to quit when the pain of the race starts to affect you.
When we’re going through difficult times the temptation is to just throw in the towel…this Christianity thing is too restrictive…too demanding…it’s too difficult…here’s what we need to remember:
God is aware of everything you’re going through…in many cases He’s the one causing or allowing it to happen.
Many times when we turn our backs on God’s teaching moments in our life and walk away…growing faint and losing heart because the…trial…conflict or affliction you’re experiencing is too hard…you’re thinking I don’t want any of this…I didn’t sign up for this…this is just too unpleasant…I’m done with this… BUT …God’s not finished.
If you’re truly serious about your Christian commitment…He will take you back into the same situation again…possibly a new one…because He has something to teach you…something He wants you to learn…so you might think you’re done…but you’re not done until God’s done.
Knowing the nature of your conflict is from God…we should receive it…and endure it because it originates from God’s love…this truth should cause us to exert more effort in the race as we move towards the finish line.
lift the drooping hands and strengthen the weak knees because you’re in a race with eternal rewards.
Here’s the important part…in a foot race you’re in competition with each other …we are not in competition with each other as Christians.
Earlier I said something that is implied in the verse lift the drooping hands and weak knees…it is brought out in a subtle way…the ESV, NIV, NLT and others insert “YOUR” in verse 12…problem is…the word ‘YOUR’ is not in the original text…some well-meaning translator added it to emphasize individuality.
The addition of the word ‘YOUR’ was for the purpose of making it personal… the NAS, KJV and NKJV translate it more correctly…without the word “YOUR.”
Probably asking “So what?” …the addition of the word ‘your’ makes the application for us to individually lift our drooping hands and weak knees in our Christian run through life…kinda every man for himself thinking.
But when you translate it like the NAS, KJV, NKJV, without the word ‘YOUR’ it indicates that this is a general exhortation to the readers to strengthen not just your drooping hands and weak knees…but anyone who is struggling.
Need to remember who this book was written to and the burden these people were under.
The affliction they were experiencing was causing these Christians to become dejected…depressed…the author describes their response as causing their hands to hang down…and their knees to grow feeble…but despite their discouragement he is urging them to run their spiritual race to completion.
We are not told so much to strengthen our hands or our weak knees, but to strengthen the hands and the knees regardless of whose they are…not to concentrate so much on our own weaknesses but to help strengthen other Christians in their spiritual walk.
One of the surest ways to be encouraged is to give encouragement to someone else, “encouraging one another” (Heb. 10:25).
This whole discipline thing comes down to this… ‘when I’m suffering did I do something wrong?’ …if God is going to send me trials and discipline me…I’d really like to know why and what it is I’m supposed to learn…too often we end up confusing God’s discipline and trials with everyday problems.
Heard an example of this…a woman who experienced a miscarriage wondered if God was punishing her…how terrible…the miscarriage was painful enough without having to also wonder if it was her fault.
It’s tragic when people blame themselves for the everyday trials and disappointments that come as a result of life…it’s even more tragic when friends try to get you to blame yourself!
Job’s friends come to mind…in the midst of all his distress…loss of family…his house…his livestock…his health…Job’s friends’ consolation was to convince him that since he had suffered so terribly, he must have sinned terribly.
One of the key lessons of Job…and it’s a warning to us…of what not to do when people suffer…don’t lecture…council…preach…or say things like, “This is happening because”… as if you somehow know…or worse, “God would not be doing this if you…”
The warning to us comes at the end of the book…when it’s God’s turn to do the lecturing…speaking to Job’s friends God says:
My wrath is against you for you have not spoken of Me what is right [Job 42:7].
If you’re going to speak for God…better make sure you know what you’re talking about…be careful not to confuse the everyday annoyances and problems in life with God’s testing and disciplining.
The Lord disciplines us—not so that we might lay down and mope and whine and let everyone know just how unpleasant the discipline is…or how unfair God has been to us.
He disciplines us to strengthen us for the work He has purposed for us…He disciplines us so that we might walk the straight path…and not lay down on the side of the path feeling sorry for ourselves.
This is shown by the call for us to help others who are struggling or who are slow in their faith…to encourage the exhausted and strengthen the feeble.
We are to help them by showing them how to run…how to live…we are in essence…like the cloud of witnesses…that our life would be an example to
how others should want to live their lives of faith.
The second application is to: 14 Pursue peace with everyone.
It’s important to remember to whom and why this book was written…it is written to those who were experiencing the trials that resulted from persecution.
And despite their circumstances…he is exhorting them to manifest a spirit of kindness toward all – even to those who were engaged in persecuting them…this is the nature of the gospel…we are to make war with sin, not with people… make war with bad passions and corrupt desires, but not with our fellow man.
As we look at the tension in America today…it seems Americans are more divided than ever…division is the buzzword in our society today.
Divisions that manifest themselves in the movements of the political spectrum… division by race…by gender…by sexuality…by political views…by class…by nepotism… cronyism…between business and ethics…social justice…church and state…divisions that are spilling over into the church and dividing churches …everything is highlighted as splitting the country into pieces.
All these shattering the once strong fortress known as America and turning it into one that is divided against itself.
And in the midst of all this turmoil Scripture says…pursue peace with everyone and holiness.
Peace and holiness are to be our spiritual condition as well as our spiritual position.
Those who pursue peace seek to be kind…thoughtful…able to help others and pray for their enemies…I’m not talking about compromising your beliefs…we are to remain firm in our Christian ideals…but without prejudice.
Holiness…at times translated sanctification…it is the state of being set apart from sin and the world and becoming more dedicated to God.
In the second part of that statement it mentions our spiritual condition and our spiritual position…the Bible refers to three spiritual conditions:
1) The Natural Man
Each of us were born physically alive, but spiritually dead [Eph. 2:1]…those who are spiritually dead are not able to understand spiritual things (I Cor. 2:14] nor do they have the power to respond to God [Rom. 3:11 / 5:6].
2) The Spiritual Man
In contrast to the natural man (I Cor. 2:14) …the spiritual person is born again …he is a born again believer who is living like it…as opposed to:
3) The Carnal Man
These are Christians who are not living like it…living according to the values of the world…yielding to the desires of their old sin nature, rather than walking in the Spirit.
These are the three spiritual conditions the Bible describes…it’s like throwing a pass in football…three things can happen and two of them are bad…an incompletion or an interception…it’s the same thing here.
Everyone has the option of being in one of three spiritual conditions…as Christians we need to walk in the Spirit and avoid anything that would cause our spiritual position to wither…because there’s a warning:
This brings us to the third application…the warning:
without which no one will see the Lord.
Talking with some of the men at our Friday morning breakfast we agreed that the church is starting to preach a different gospel message today than it did in the 50’s…60’s…and 70’s. Have to be old enough to be around then…and in Church.
The popular idea was that if you profess John 3:16 you’re good to go…used to do door-to-door evangelism sharing the Four Spiritual Laws that explained in a very simplistic way how to be saved.
There was a prayer at the back of the pamphlet…if they prayed it, we congratulated them on being saved…that was all you had to do because the Bible says so…well, kinda.
How naive…people are suffering today because of that mind set…how lame was that…no one ever followed up with them regarding baptism…never encouraged them to get into church…never went back to see how they were progressing in their spiritual growth…just…if you accepted Jesus you’re saved.
These people may have gone the rest of their lives…maybe living the same life style as before…believing they were saved because well-meaning Christians wanting to fulfill the Great Commission told them so.
Goes back to what I just mentioned regarding the spiritual man…the person who is born again is a believer who is living like it.
Here’s the danger for the person that fails to pursue peace and Jesus’ call to holiness…we cannot have peace with God unless we are walking in His Spirit and in truth…without that…you will never know the peace of God.
This reinforces the third application for us…walk intent on the pleasure of God’s blessing, not intent on the pleasures of sin’s false promises.
When we choose to walk in fleshly disobedience and carnal disbelief…when we fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, we are like the carnal person
who is ‘saved – yet as by fire’ but missing out on God’s blessings and rewards.
BUT…when we are His children by faith we are permanently positioned in Christ which gives us…peace with God…the forgiveness of sins…the promise of blessing, rewards, and life everlasting.