"I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." -Matthew 10:16
It seems worth while to remember this scripture in light of what Jesus tells us about ministry in this passage. His ministry brings division. It divides friends and families. It may lead to your arrest, persecution, or even death. While his disciples are told not to fear such things, they are also given this instruction that they not just walk in to it. I wonder if the church would be better off if we heeded this instruction. It seems to me we would rather just shoot our mouths off most of the time (take any pastor shouting stuff on the capitol steps as my example) instead of being shrewd about how we do things. On the flip side, we preach to keep things the way we like them, choose a church that tells us what we want to hear, or we share our faith to win souls, another notch in our bible cover (as if we somehow do the saving), a truely selfish undertaking; not innocent at all. I wonder if we would be better able to drive out evil, and heal every disease and sickness if we were shrewd and innocent. That is the authority Jesus gives at the beginning of Chapter 10, yet the church seems unable to do this well.
On the other hand, we need to get over this idea that christians get to lead this super peaceful life, and the often shared belief that being a christian means respecting every other belief, without sharing our own belief. Too many so called churches stand for next to nothing, opting to be like Jesus, but never actually sharing Jesus with others. People in those churches continue to feel good about themselves, but are too scared to share their faith, or maybe don't even think it is necessary to do so. They offer clothes and food, but nothing of eternal value.
Jesus seems to set up this place between being a crazy christian and being a lazy christian; where we must share a divisive message, but do it with tact and innocense. How can I be shrewed and innocent in my persuit of being who Jesus calls me to be? That is a question best asked several times a day.
O God, you call us to a truly difficult path. But if we accept the life you offer us, you promise to give us the words to speak, strength in times of trouble, and life eternal. Help me to meet your challenge with shrewdness and innocence. In the name if Jesus my Lord and Saviour. Amen.
The thing that strikes me about reading all these chapters in quick succession is that Jesus is painting a picture. It's a picture of what it's all supposed to look like. But as soon as I think I have one quadrant of it figured out he says something else that...well...tips the balance back and shows me that I'm not yet seeing the full concept he's trying to get across. Sometimes I ALmost feel like my head is being messed with, but I know that's not really true. It's just that my human mind is struggling with the constant shift in the bubble on the level in the effort to find God's plumb.
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