Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.    Matthew 10:16 NKJV

In this Scripture passage, Jesus is warning of coming persecution. In verse 17 he goes on to say beware of men or of people, for they will deliver you up and scourge you in their synagogues. He is telling them they will face persecution even in the churches.

We are told in 2 Timothy 3:1-6 that in the end times, people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good and the list goes on.

We are going to have to deal with people like this in our families, our workplace and yes even in our churches. So, how do we handle this. Well, Jesus was sending His 12 apostles out for the first time on their own to spread the gospel. He encouraged them to trust in the Lord to provide all they needed. He also warned them that they would be rejected as some people would not want to hear what they had to say.

He told them in Matthew 10:14, “And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that city, shake off the dust from your feet.” They were to leave and take nothing from that city, not even the dust that was on their feet.

As Christians, we want to do the right thing. We want to love others even people who are unlovable and we should. We know that Jesus said in Matthew 5:44, “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”

In our Scripture passage today, Jesus is telling His disciples to use discernment. They are to be wise, but they are also to be innocent. We are not to perpetrate evil against our enemies. We should not deal with them in any way that causes us to sin. We should also take note that there is nowhere in the Bible that tells us to trust someone who has misused us. We should love them and we should pray for them, but we don’t have to trust them. We don’t have to submit ourselves over and over to their abuse. We can walk away.

When we deal with people, we need to use God-given wisdom and discernment. We need to pray for God to give us wisdom.  We need to remember above all that we should approach them with love. We should share the gospel with them, but we must also be careful and watch for warning signs.

We were told back in Genesis 3:1 that the serpent was the most cunning beast of the field that the LORD God had made. Jesus tells us to be as wise as serpents because He doesn’t want us to be taken advantage of as the serpent took advantage of Adam and Eve and in doing so brought sin into the world.

He also tells us to be as innocent or as harmless as doves. When we deal with difficult people, we know from Romans 12 that we are to bless those who persecute us (Romans 12:14) and we are not to repay evil for evil (Romans 12:17). We are to leave vengeance to the Lord (Romans 12:19). And most importantly, we must not be overcome by evil, but we should overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).

In Peter 5:8 he cautions us to be sober and vigilant knowing our enemy the devil walks around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. The devil uses people to accomplish his goal, and we must be aware of this. We must not let the devil get to us through people.

In these end times we are being sent out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be wise and remain innocent. Trust in Him to lead you and guide you in relationships. When you deal with people, especially those who are difficult, pray to God for wisdom and discernment. Know when it’s time to shake the dust off and move on.

Have a great day!