"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.''
(Matthew 10:16)
What did Jesus mean by being both like a serpent and a dove? Isn't it contradictory?
The reason why so many people are having serious defeated lifestyles, is because they tend to act too soft like innocent doves. Every born again Christian has received a mandate from Jesus to achieve a mission on Earth, just like He said: 'I am sending you...'
The place where God sends us on a mission, is a land that we are supposed to conquer for the Kingdom of God. Your purpose is the mission or the land where Jesus orders you to step in and dominate. But there is one problem:' in that land (mission) there are unruly people who will stand against you, and Jesus describes them as wolves.'
In my two decades of Christian life, I have bumped against people who stood against me even when they knew that God was on my side. Believe it or not, those wolves don't care about the fact that God might be on your side. In spite of the numerous miracles accomplished, the Jews still stood against Jesus.
Do not think that everybody is celebrating when a prophet prophecies upon you in public. Do not think that everybody will be happy when they discover the purpose for which God has made you. Stop thinking that the entire world is happy to see you thrive and succeed. In my own personal experience, I have learnt that some people will make it their mission to stop your purpose. And the saddest part is to find out that many of those people are Christians.
Simply because God spoke about your future, does not necessarily means that it will happen. When God told His people to leave Egypt for the promised land, He also told them that they had to conquer through fights. The Israelites conquered the Promised Land because they accepted to fight, but if they had refused to fight, they would have never entered.
God has a mission for you. You have a place to conquer but there are some people who don't like you because of the destiny God has entrusted you with. They will stand against you and at times, they will make it their mission to destroy you. This is why Jesus recommends that you become shrewd like a snake.
Even when they can't stop you, some people are dreaming of ways to stop you. Watch and be like snake.
How does a snake behave?
1. A snake is secretive: Snakes are silent killers. They know how to hide when they plan an attack.
Regardless of the number of years you have as a born again Christian, you are also entitled to keep your secrets and share them with whom you feel safe to share them with. Jesus also had secrets, parables (enigmas) and He even ordered some of His followers not to testify on certain miracles.
Reference:
John 7:10, Mark 7:36.
You do not have to be too soft and tell everyone about everything you do! You might open a door to a wolf hater who will try to destroy you.
2. A snake assesses before attacking:
Have you noticed that snakes love to stick their tongues out? The reason behind this behavior is because the snake constantly wants to know what it is up against.
When the Israelites wanted to conquer Jericho, Joshua (Israel leader) sent two spies to assess the city's defensive system( Reference Joshua chapter 2). Now that's what I call being sneaky like a 'Mamba'.
The devil is a very angry dude, and he has human agents working for him against you. You need to assess and know where those wolves are!
3. A snake does not play by the rules:
One of the tricks of the enemy is to preset some rules before you enter a fight. Then he wants you to play by those rules because it is easier for him to beat you when you abide to his game.
Some people are jobless for years because they abide to a certain set of rules to get a job. Some people are always poor because the devil of poverty made them believe that only a certain set of rules will make them rich.
If you are jobless for years, isnt' it time you put some changes to your unattractive CV? (I am just saying)
By what rules are you playing?
A snake does not care about rules when attacking.
Jesus broke so many Jewish rules during his ministry and this was one of the reasons why He was revolutionary (Reference Matthew 12:1-13,Mark 3:1-6).
The most successful people are rule breakers. When they started their journeys, 'wolves' would tell them the rules of the game but they refuse to abide. They refused to believe in rules blocking their dreams because of their gender, race,nationaltity, origins or background.
Break the rules when people tell you that you are of the wrong color.
Break the rules when people tell you that you can't because you are a woman.
Break the rules when people tell you that you can't because of your poor background.
Break the rules when they stand against the dream that God has for you.
Now that we have seen studied some characteristics of the snake, why did Jesus recommend that we also act like doves?
Jesus wants us to draw a limit when we act as shrewd snake. There is a limit we are not called to cross or we will become similar to full time evil spirits.On the other side of the shrewd personality, there should be the gentleness of the dove. Acting like a shrewd snake is only necessary when you are in a warfare mode and you are not at war with everyone at all time ( remember that).
Secondly the characteristic of a shrewd snake should be used in defensive mode when the wolves attack us. If we forget to also be like doves, we are more likely to be a source of pain and destruction. We must always draw the limits and set the balance between the dove personality and sneaky characteristic.
I hope that was clear enough.
P.S: I want to apologize to my readers over my previous email in which I wrongly mentioned the number of talents given to Master servants. The first one received 5 talents, the second one received 2 and third servant received one talent.