Be wise as a snake?

Matthew 10"16 “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves

In some translations, the verse states to be wise as a serpent. Whether shrewd as a snake or wise as a serpent, does this mean we need to be wise as the devil? Of course not! We must look at the Word spiritually which means without prayer and an answer from the Holy Spirit, they are but words and a riddle. However, the children of God are not to be in darkness. We are to be the salt and light of the world and we are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven while others are not. But not all of God's people understand the secrets of heaven because many have not grown to spiritual maturity as they pray, worship, read, obey, and die to themselves seeking His answers. We must grow to spiritual maturity and to the completion of our salvation. 

Matthew 13:11-13 "He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. 12 To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. 13 That is why I use these parables,

For they look, but they don’t really see.

    They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand."

This is what the Holy Spirit has revealed. Rather than looking at the word snake and referencing it as the devil, we need to look at the character of an actual physical snake. The snake's nature is one that avoids confrontation. It does not go looking for a fight. It does not go looking to show off its menace or venom. It minds its own business and goes it own way. It is wise in the sense it avoids fights and confrontation to stay alive. 

It is a given that God will send us through or among the wolves. The wolves are there to devour us but we must go through them nevertheless. Wolves are sheep's natural enemy. The sheep by itself will get devoured by the wolves. What does the wolf represent? Wolves can represent unbelieving or religious spouses, parents, in laws, children, bosses, friends, religious pastors, religious Christians, and so forth.  When we receive revelation that leads us to the pure gospel,  we will face the wolves which can be the people above. Wolves are against spiritual teaching and gifts. Wolves are against the work of the Holy Spirit. Wolves were against Jesus and they are still against those who are following Jesus with all their hearts. God is teaching us how to handle such people as we become more spiritual. 

Therefore, we must avoid confrontation and fights but when confronted we must be harmless as a dove to go through the wolves. In some translation, it may state gentle or unoffensive. What is the spiritual meaning of gentleness? We all think we can be gentle and many can be gentle for some moments. But when we resort back to anger, strife, fighting, and such, we are not acting as a holy people. Whatever we choose each day is what will get stronger in us. If we choose the traits of God by dying to the flesh, then the presence of the Holy Spirit will become stronger. If we choose the traits of the devil, then we will continue to lose the presence of the Holy Spirit and become more carnal. If we are carnal, we will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

What is gentleness? 

1 Cor 4:12-13 We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. 13 We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment.

When going through the spiritual wolves, we must avoid fights and confrontations. Demanding someone to believe in Jesus and stating they will go to hell if they do not believe in your way and calling them names is not being wise as a snake nor being gentle. You will never win your families by fighting with them. You will win them as YOU Surrender to Jesus and walk HIS Walk carrying your own crosses. As we avoid fights, we must bless those who curse us rather than fighting back like a wolf. We must be patient and endure those who abuse and persecute us. We must appeal gently when evil things are said or if they slander us. We must be ready to be someone else's trash. In the book of Philippians, it states, we must look at the other person more highly than ourselves. We must be gentle and humble. 

Therefore, to make it through the wolves and eventually win them, we must avoid fights and confrontations being gentle as we bless them even thought they curse us. We must be able to feed our enemies and put coal over their heads. You must be able to feed your enemies the Word of God through your good deeds so that your light may shine. The light of God in you is your good deeds.

The snake usually has venom to kill. We are to be wise as a snake. If we are not wise, then we can use our negative words which is the venom to bring death rather than life. The snake just doesn't bite randomly to inject venom on anything that moves. This would represent speaking rashly and unwisely. It preserves its venom and only strikes to eat. Eating can represent life. We must be wise when to speak and what words to speak to bring life. Otherwise, we can speak death. The power of our tongue can produce life or death. 

If we are the children of God, then we must act and speak like our King. We must possess HIS character and traits. Otherwise, we may be acting like the children of the devil and Jesus told some of HIS own people and the Pharisees that they were the children of the devil. It is not a matter of being nice one day and a crazy person the next. You must be consistently righteous if you are HIS righteousness. Those who are righteous will practice righteousness consistently and eternally. 

Glory to HIM

Pastor Steve Yong Kim

Fire of God Church