23 September 2025
Daily Devotion:
"The Path of Peace"
1 Peter 3:11
New Living Translation
11 Turn away from evil and do good Search for peace, and work to maintain it.
This verse tells us to “work to maintain” peace. Interestingly, Romans12, which is full of brief “nuggets” that explain how to live the joyful life, also tells us to do all we can to live in harmony with others. We can tell from the way the Romans passage is worded that Paul was a realist; he understood that certain folks don't want any part of harmony.
Sometimes they've been wounded; they've decided that even the slightest offense is cause for war, which makes peace next to impossible. Other times, they're not soeasily angered, but they thrive on drama: the sky is always falling, and the smallest hiccup becomes a crisis. Often, numerous people are pulled into the drama via breathless conversations and texts, but you have a choice: join in the ruckus, or calmly distance yourself.
If you must participate, then do your best to defuse the situation. The result is that you'll be able to hold on to joy while living at peace with everyone-including yourself.
