Matthew 10:16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.”
After stopping at an illegal drinking den, a Zimbabwean bus driver was dismayed to discover that the twenty mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to lose his job, he went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then promptly delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to strong delusions. It took three days before the whole mess got sorted out.
I don’t think Jesus would endorse that highly creative piece of deception, but he might have laughed! In his tricky parable of the shrewd manager, Jesus commends the manager for somewhat questionable behaviour, “for the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:8,9). The manager was shrewd enough to use the means at his disposal to plan for his future well-being.
In David’ song of praise to the Lord in 2 Samuel 22:27, he says: “To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.” If, as Jesus makes clear, we are sent out by him into the world like sheep among wolves, we desperately need his guidance in many ambiguous or downright potentially compromising situations so that we maintain our integrity (‘innocent as doves’) whilst exhibiting streetwise judgment (‘shrewd as snakes’). It’s a fine line sometimes. I’ve been there; no doubt you have as well.
Father God, I choose to be a person of integrity. Help me to live above reproach in difficult situations, and grant me the discernment to acts in ways that always honour your name. Amen!
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