These Days Devotional for August 18

I wrote a week's worth of devotionals for the devotional guide These Days.  This week is when they are in the book, so I thought I would share them here as well.

Scripture: Isaiah 2:1-4

Holy Disarmament

...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Isaiah 2:4b

This verse is posted at the United Nations. But that doesn't seem to have really inspired the world's leaders as they make decisions.

70 years ago World War II ended. And since then there has not been a moment of global peace. Instead of destroying weapons we as a society seem to specialize in developing new “better” weapons. I wonder what we could accomplish by redirecting those research and development dollars?

A common practice in Christian worship is to greet each other with the Peace of Christ (who we call the Prince of Peace). I wonder if we can get national leaders to also greet each with words of peace – and mean it.

Action Step: There is a long tradition of Christians advocating for peace. Look for a chance to raise peace and disarmament as an option in your world.

Jesus, Prince of Peace, fill our hearts with a desire for peace and justice in our world Amen.