“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
Wise as serpents and innocent as doves. I don’t know about you but that almost sounds like an oxymoron to me. You know, like “Pretty ugly”. “A little big.” “Act Natural.” “Adult children.” “Altogether separate.” Words we put together but are exact opposites.
But the difference here is that Yeshua is telling us to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. He’s combining the attributes. We aren’t to be only wise. That can lead to pride and haughtiness. However, neither are we to be only be innocent. While that’s definitely a needed trait in a believer, He doesn’t want us to be oblivious to circumstances in our life or situations we may find ourselves in.
That all being said, while so many of us emphasize and strive for the “innocent” factor in our life, when was the last time you said to yourself “I need to work on being wise like a serpent?”
Let this be a focus in your time of meditation throughout the day. Until next time, shalom!
SOURCE: Steve Moutria at TorahFamily.org (Posted with permission)
https://torahfamily.org/take-combo-matthew/