Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading titled Run Away was written by Leslie Co.

The introductory lesson on Aikido, a traditional Japanese form of martial arts, was an eye-opener.

The sense, or teacher, told us that when faced

with an attacker, our first response should be to run away. Only if you can't run away. Then you

fight, he said seriously. Run away. I was taken aback. Why was this highly skilled self-defense

instructor telling us to run away from a fight?

It seemed counterintuitive until he explained that the best form of self-defense is to avoid

fighting in the first place.

Of course.

When several men came to arrest Jesus, Peter responded, as some of us might have, by drawing

his sword to attack one of them. But Jesus told him to put it away, saying in Matthew

26, how then would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way? While a sense

of justice is important, so is understanding God's purpose and kingdom,

an upside down kingdom that calls us to love our enemies and return evil with kindness. It's a stark

contrast to how the world might react, yet it's a response that God seeks to nurture in us. Luke 2251 even describes Jesus healing

the ear of the man Peter had struck. May we learn to respond to difficult situations as he did,

always seeking peace and restoration as God provides what we need.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Matthew

chapter 26 verses 47 through 56. While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the 12 arrived.

With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests

and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them. The one I kiss is the

...