Matthew 10:16 (NLT)
“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.”
I’ve always questioned this verse and the parable in Luke 16:1-9, where the dishonest employee is admired for his shrewdness. Consider verse 9, “here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.”NLT
It is during these times of questioning that the paraphrase, The Message; by Eugene Peterson usually helps to clarify things. Peterson restates Matthew 10:16 as follows, “Stay alert. This is hazardous work I’m assigning you. You’re going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don’t call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.” He summarizes Luke 16: 8-9 this way, “Now here’s the surprise: The master praised the crooked manager! And why? Because he knew how to look after himself. Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way-but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.”
Checking the Dictionary of Bible Themes I found it says of shrewdness (5948)—that scripture commends shrewdness when it is directed towards a worthy goal.
This is something I will have to continue to pray about because I still think of shrewdness or cunning as being sly and manipulative. But something that does help is to think of the King James Version which uses the word, “wise” instead of shrewd or cunning.
So perhaps what I am being told is to not sit quietly and let others take advantage of me or others. That I can wrap my brain around!-)
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