Serpents And Doves — A LifeWords Devotion

We may shake our heads in wonder at how people get sucked in by scams of all sorts. It seems that in the case of the more obvious scams, there is a sad gullibility about the people who fall for them. In terms of our text today, they are innocent doves who forgot that they also need to have the wisdom of a snake!

Then again, we can become so shrewd and calculating that we fall into cynicism. Our hard heart means we won’t fall for scams, but it also means we live in a constant state of suspicion. A bit of dove like innocence wouldn’t go astray.

Followers of Jesus can be seduced into wrongful thinking by smooth talking preachers who quote the Bible repeatedly. They need to embrace some serpent like wisdom to figure out if what that preacher is saying is true. Naïve acceptance of everything we hear is not maturity. Refusing to use our brains is not dove like innocence: it is a dangerous dismissal of the mental faculties given to us by our creator.

God has room for people who are not intellectual giants. But he wants each of us to use what sense we have and not kiss our brains goodbye in the name of simple faith. It seems our God wants a child’s heart and a grown up’s head.

Blessings

David