Among wolves...

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves." -- Matthew 10:16.  Jesus, describing the difficulties that come with discipleship.  He has told them to go preach and now Hew warns them that the road will not be easy.  Due to the difficulty, we see here that as Christians, it is like we are living like sheep among wolves. 

Among wolves.  I don't know if you have ever found yourself in a dangerous situation before or in a situation that required great wisdom on your part so as not to put yourself or others in unnecessary danger.  These are the type of situations the early disciples would find themselves in. But why this terminology of sheep among wolves?

Among wolves.  As many of us know, sheep are the most harmless, helpless and defenseless animals known to man.  They are easy prey for any animal that seeks to devour it if the sheep is not careful.  As Christians, if we are not shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves, our fate could be the same when we are among wolves. 

Among wolves.  The word shrewd here has to do with exercising wisdom and the word innocent has to do with maintaining purity.  As Christians, we know when dealing with the "wolves" our approach with every person has to be different because if not we can set ourselves up for attack and put ourselves in unnecessary danger.  We must be innocent.  We can't give the "wolves" any room to unnecessarily slander the name of Christ.  

Among wolves.  So who are these wolves?  It would be easy to say these wolves are "non-Christians."  However, it goes deeper than just that.  We know wolves are predators.  The wolves we deal with as Christians are not much different. The wolves we encounter are simply out hunting and looking for that opportunity to attack us.  While the majority of the world is like this, not everyone is necessarily a wolf.  Many people are simply lost sheep in need of rescuing that are also among wolves. 

Among wolves.  What we must remember is that some people even if we maintain our shrewdness and innocence, they are still going to do all they can to attack Christianity.  We see evidence of this in today's world in people's attempt to remove God and Jesus from the classroom at all costs.  Dealing with the wolves can be discouraging.  We must not give up though simply because among those wolves are the lost sheep that are in need of rescuing.  

This morning my encouragement to you is this.  Take a look around you as you go about your day today.  As you do, try to find those sheep that are in need of rescuing from among the wolves.  If there is someone that you know right now that needs rescuing, go and make that rescue attempt.  More than once if necessary.  Is it easy?  Of course not.  This section is clear evidence of that.  However, the job must still be done.  This is part of being a disciple of Christ. 

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!