Day 22 - Shrewd & Innocent

Matthew 10:16-20 (ESV) - Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 

Year after year, he was named the most admired man in America. Yet, when he made a trip to the Soviet Union in 1982, evangelist Billy Graham was castigated by the American media, political pundits, and even his fellow Christian leaders. There were even death threats. Whereas many thought that Graham was being used as a propaganda piece by the Soviets, he knew that cracking the door open would allow the gospel to be spread and that the emptiness of Communist ideology could not stand. Large crowds showed up wherever Graham spoke. He had access to political leaders. His events were featured in Soviet media. All of it was controversial.

One day Jesus sent his disciples on an unprecedented mission. These ordinary men were to go from village to village telling people that God the king was breaking into the world in a powerful new way—bringing healing and power and salvation. It would require submission. This was a message that people do not easily receive. The gospel is the one message that gives us life—but it requires us to give up our lives. Jesus tells his disciples that they will be arrested, but that God will give them the right words at the right time. “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” 

Then Jesus said this strange thing: “Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” This kind of shrewdness is not cunning or scheming. It is strategic and tactical. Savvy and smart. “Innocent as doves” means pure motive, integrity, trustworthiness. Billy Graham’s ministry for decades was savvy with integrity, whether it involved innovative uses of mass media, cutting-edge organization, or stepping behind the iron curtain. 

On any given day, you may sense that you are a sheep living among wolves. It is not a good idea for us to have a persecution complex or to whine about the world being worldly. But the gospel does clash with the status quo—and followers of Jesus will sometimes be attacked. 

So we need to be savvy and innocent. To be smart and strategic about how we live and proclaim the good news of Jesus.

PONDER:  What is your personal reaction to people who are antagonistic to the message of Jesus? How can you be smart with integrity as you interact with them?

REFLECTION or DISCUSSION
Most days we will encounter people in our lives who either don’t know or don’t like Jesus. As his followers, we get to be representatives of him. When we encounter people who may not know him, we get to anticipate what barriers might keep them from wanting to know Jesus and we get to present Jesus in the way he truly is. 

Read Matthew 10:16. Jesus is warning the people he is sending out. What do you think he might be trying to tell them? When you meet someone who doesn’t know Jesus, what idea of God do you think they might get from you, based on the way you are living your life? What about people who meet your family?