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

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. (KJV)

Barne's Notes on the Bible has the following explanation:

Follow peace with all men - Do not give indulgence to those passions which lead to litigations, strifes, wars. This is the temper of the gospel. We are to make war with sin, but not with people; with bad passions and corrupt desires, but not with our fellow-worms.

And holiness - Instead of yielding to contending passions and to a spirit of war; instead of seeking revenge on your persecutors and foes, make it rather your aim to be holy. Let that be the object of your pursuit; the great purpose of your life. Men might in such cases counsel them to seek revenge; the spirit of religion would counsel them to strive to be holy.

What is the difference between us and non-believers if we take offense in every single remark or wrong doing arguing our case? Can't we just dust off the insult and move forward forgiving them in Jesus' name? It doesn't seem alright; they truly deserve to hear what we got to say - right? Wrong!

Let us make every effort to live in peace as today's Scripture teaches us. Let us make a difference from the rest of the crowd out there!