“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Matt 10:16NIV)
Our Lord Jesus, as we see from Scriptures, is a realist. He is someone that always speaks the truth and never lies to Himself or to anyone else about anything. And this is so that people can face the truth about their life’s circumstances.
For example, as we see in our opening bible text, He tells all His disciples that they must always see themselves as sheep among wolves, as long as they are in this world. That means they must never assume that those of this world will be kind or nice to them. On the contrary, they must always think of them as wolves that will devour them at any given opportunity.
And is this not true? Aren’t unbelievers and false believers always looking for ways to cheat, deceive, rob or oppress true children of God? In fact, once some people find out that you are a genuine Christian, all they will begin to plot is where and how they will take advantage of you. That is because they believe that most Christians are simple-minded, naïve individuals that can easily be outsmarted or abused.
Unfortunately, many true children of God are actually simple-minded and can easily be trampled upon. That is because they do not understand Christianity. The idea of Christianity they have is derived basically from the words of our Lord Jesus that say, “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matt 5:39NIV) But what the Lord says here is figurative. In other words, He is simply teaching us the need to bear with those who shamefully treat us and not allow their wickedness to turn us into wicked people too.
And if you still don’t get what I am saying, just take a look at our Lord’s own earthly life. How many times did He give people the impression that they could slap Him as freely and easily as they might want? From what we see in Scriptures, He never gave anybody the impression that he was someone they could molest at will. But He also never used foul or abusive words in answering His opponents. And it was only when His time was up and He was faced with death on the cross that people were able to arrest and molest Him. Nevertheless, He did not give those slapping Him and those abusing Him the impression that what they were doing was nothing. If that were the case, He would not ask God to forgive them for unjustly punishing Him and taking His life in ignorance.
Therefore, except you are sure that your time is up and you are also certain that God wants you to glorify Him through death, don’t foolishly yield yourself to be devoured by the wolves of this world. And that is the point our Lord Jesus is communicating to us in our opening bible text. According to Him, as long as we are living in this world, we will always be like sheep among wolves. And since that is the case, we must be as shrewd as snakes and as harmless as doves in all our dealings with the people of the world.
Now that is a real challenge. I mean that it is not a joke to combine the cleverness of snakes with the innocence of doves in one person. Yet the Lord says that is what we must do, if we do not want to constantly be victims of the wolves around us that are seeking to devour us. So, while you make it your aim to live a good, godly and harmless life that God has called us to live in this world, you must also be very smart like a snake in handling those in your world.
Snakes, as we know, can indeed be killed or tamed by men. But they don’t ever put themselves in situations where anyone can easily hurt them or turn them into a prey. They are always quick to judge situations and to hide themselves where necessary. In like manner, while you cannot afford to be full of venoms and injurious like a snake, you must, like a snake, be quick to access people and situations and to stay out of trouble.
Look at our Lord Jesus Christ. Though He was always going about doing good and healing all those who are oppressed of the devil, He was also always quick to judge circumstances and to disappear whenever danger was looming. In the same way, David, once when he found himself before an enemy king, was quick to change his disposition and to start acting like an insane person until he was sure of his safety. What about Paul the apostle? Once, while defending himself and the gospel of Jesus Christ before the religious leaders of the Jews that wanted to have his head, this man of God used their doctrinal disagreement on the subject of resurrection to confuse them. So, he was able to escape their evil judgment that day. (Cf. 1Sam 21:10-15; John 7:1; Acts 23:1-10)
You too should always be smart in dealing with those of this world and not give them any undue reason to see you as someone they can easily trample upon or oppress. Yes, be devoted to doing those good works God has called you to do. But never put yourself in any situation where people will think of you as someone they can oppress or outsmart at will. Otherwise, you may not live long enough to finish those good works God has recreated you to do.
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