Wise as serpents Harmless as doves

 We are to be wise as serpents, yet harmless as doves according to Jesus, not spiritually floating on a cloud when evil is stalking us to take us out.

There were many times when there was a desire to kill Jesus that rose up against Him. The very first time when declared Himself to be the answer to Isaiah 61, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

It enraged the people of His hometown. Who did He think He was anyway? "And he said, 'Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown....On hearing this, all the people in the synagogue were enraged. They got up, drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him over the cliff."

Jesus evaded them. In their fury of pushing Him towards the cliff, when they got to the edge, they were pushing each other so much that He turned and walked right through them to safety.

It would not be the last time Jesus evaded those who were trying to kill Him prematurely. He knew He was going to die, but He also knew it was not time for Him to LAY DOWN HIS LIFE, so until it was His time, He did not allow anyone to take His life that had to be laid down in God's timing, not man's - or the demons that moved them to try to kill Him.

Many Christians have come to accept that they must allow whatever comes to them, "turning the other cheek" even when demons have been stirred in people to take you out permanently. Jesus did not allow every attempt to succeed, and we should not either, unless God has spoken to us that this is our time to lay down our lives.

We must be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves. We are not to seek hurting those who seek to kill us off, but we should be wise concerning evil schemes of serpents, and not let them put us to death - literally or figuratively.