Comments on: On being as wise as a serpent and as gentle as a dove

By: Anita Mathias

Anita Mathias — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 10:11:41 +0000

In reply to Loves God. I am sorry to read this! God bless!

By: Anita Mathias

Anita Mathias — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 10:09:33 +0000

In reply to Andy.

“Becoming wise as serpents is just as much a work of sanctification”
I like how you put it. Hadn’t thought of it, but yes, as we grow into Jesus, I guess we begin to resemble him a little, and some of his wisdom rubs off on us.
Flattery is tricky, because we so want to believe it, and so, as you say, drop our guard.

By: Anita Mathias

Anita Mathias — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 10:03:31 +0000

In reply to Lynda Alsford. Thanks so much, Lynda, and thanks for sharing too!

By: Loves God

Loves God — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 08:58:10 +0000

This article speaks to the situation I’m in right now. I have a friend
who attends a very small church group I go to on Friday nights.
There are occasional visitors, but for the most part the church consist
of about 12 regular members. It’s supposed to be geared towards
those that have been hurt in other churches who now prefer small groups.
The pastor also has a conventional church in another town. My friend
went there until she had to move away and she’s the one that asked the
pastor to hold this group for us in our city. He ministers and his wife
comes with him. His sister is the singer here and in his church. She is
sweet but only has a mediocre voice and seems very possessive of this
position in the church. Others with nicer voices (I’m not one of them)
are not allowed or encouraged to lead worship.
I’ve been to his other church, about an hour from here
on a Sun. morning and even that church has only about 50 regulars, a
lot of them are his family members. This friend I refer to seems to be
very insecure. A few times I confided in her some things and she seemed
for a while to be trustworthy. But as time goes by I have a strong sense she
is telling her other friends, people she’s known much longer from the
other church experience, my business. She often takes what I say and
twist it to make me look foolish, when it’s not at all what I meant and
she knows it’s not. This church seems too cliquish, even though they
got together under the guise of wanting to minister to the hurting from
other churches they themselves cause harm. The pastor often has a “word”
for somebody that just doesn’t seem right. It usually comes across as
saying what he thinks that person wants to hear, rather than a true
word from God. I had a dream over a year ago, clearly God-given, that
said God would reveal to me the person who has been lying about me
to others, if she didn’t repent. He let me see in an outline but would
not show me her face in the dream. I think now he’s revealing to me
in bits and pieces and although I’m not yet 100% sure it’s her, I know
that she is part of whatever is going on. One of my strongest spiritual
gifts is discernment. That’s been confirmed to me by godly people.
As Christians we want to believe the best of everyone, right? We rightly
feel that if we get hurt by others it should more likely be from
someone we hardly know, but often it’s those that pretend to be our
friend that ends up being a backstabber. It’s not the first time I’ve been
betrayed by a friend in a church.

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 07:07:45 +0000

“The task of a life time” – I’m glad you said that because for me the lessons are very slowly and sometimes painfully learned, and many times repeated to get it into my dull senses that it is God teaching me. I can see this sometimes when reading the scriptures, especially the book of Proverbs.

There is most especially the test of flattery which causes us to drop our guard and to go right back into the toxic situation. How many times must we fail that test until we realise the problem is ours rather than ‘them’ and eventually that button doesn’t work anymore, it is no longer connected and our egos are no longer ‘on-line’.

I begin to see that becoming wise as serpents is just as much a work of sanctification as the more obvious work that the Saviour is doing in me – the call to grow (up) in Him.

Thank you for helping to make that connection.

By: Lynda Alsford

Lynda Alsford — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 05:27:40 +0000

Very helpful Anita. I needed to be reminded to be as wise as a serpent and as gentle as a dove. Being silent in such situations and praying is excellent advice. I shall be putting it into practice.
Bless you.