Matthew 18:2-4 “He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

As I began my quiet time this morning I followed an instruction my pastor gave in church yesterday.  Meditate on how we, as individuals, can facilitate peace in our world.  As I sat and prayed for a scripture to meditate on, this is the one came to me.  Little children like peace.  When things are not fair or just, they seek counsel from an adult or elder to get things made right.  They do not like to see another person hurting and will strive to make people feel better whenever they can.  They realize and accept that they cannot solve some problems on their own and in true humility, they come for help.  If we come to God as children we come in true humility and seeking His help.  To enter the kingdom of heaven would be to enter a peaceable and just kingdom.  Jesus tells us in these verses we must be like children; we must be humble to enter this kingdom.  In Matthew 5 Jesus says “blessed are the peacemakers, for they are called the children of God”.  Here we are told children are humble.  My first step in making peace is to become humble, like a child, in the Lord.

Lord,

We try to force our ideas on others thinking this will bring peace but we end up making war.  Help us come to you, letting go of our desires for this world and seeking yours.  Open our eyes to realize we cannot bring peace on our own.  We ask for your guidance.  Help us become peacemakers; help us be your children.  Amen.