Paintbrush Bromeliad, Norfolk Botanical Gardens. Copyright 2012: singeronthesand
…I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
so be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves.
Matthew 10:16
There are times when I think the entire advertising world believes that human beings are intrinsically gullible. Whenever I go on Google or Facebook, there is always an ad saying, "Why dermatologists hate this Richmond mother..." When I was in Massachusetts over Thanksgiving, there was a mother in that location who was also hated. I assume that if I was in Timbuktu, there would be a despised woman there as well. Each woman had "discovered" a miracle wrinkle cure which those dermatologists don't want the common female to know about. But if you click on the ad, you can have the secret for $9.95, $11.95, $15.98 - whatever.
If you are needing a divorce and peruse the local Yellow Pages or the online lawyers, almost every ad will tell you that your first consultation with a lawyer is free. Just give them a call. If you have e-mail, you no doubt have received a message saying that you have won a boat, or a car, or a sum of money, if you will just fill out the attached form with all your personal information. Yesterday I received a flyer in the mail from a local automotive conglomerate, with details of a HUGE used car sale, and areas for me to scratch off to see if I have won a prize (which I had, of course), and pictures of fantastic vehicles at low-low prices. I know from painful experience that when you are dumb enough to drive all the way out there, you will be informed that those advertised cars have "already been sold," but there are plenty more "just like them" at significantly higher prices. My father used to say that there is a sucker born every minute, and I have filled that role more than once in my lifetime!
There are an amazing amount of people who believe that Christians, by their very nature, are akin to doormats or dumbbells. Jesus does not believe that we should be either. He knew that He was sending the disciples out into a skeptic, cynical world. He advised them to be "wise as serpents;" some translations read "...shrewd as snakes" - hardly a mamby-pamby, go-ahead-and-run-straight-over-me attitude. At the same time, He asked for us to be "...harmless as doves." Be loving, polite and helpful, but know what you are about and always watch your back.
If you are needing a divorce and peruse the local Yellow Pages or the online lawyers, almost every ad will tell you that your first consultation with a lawyer is free. Just give them a call. If you have e-mail, you no doubt have received a message saying that you have won a boat, or a car, or a sum of money, if you will just fill out the attached form with all your personal information. Yesterday I received a flyer in the mail from a local automotive conglomerate, with details of a HUGE used car sale, and areas for me to scratch off to see if I have won a prize (which I had, of course), and pictures of fantastic vehicles at low-low prices. I know from painful experience that when you are dumb enough to drive all the way out there, you will be informed that those advertised cars have "already been sold," but there are plenty more "just like them" at significantly higher prices. My father used to say that there is a sucker born every minute, and I have filled that role more than once in my lifetime!
There are an amazing amount of people who believe that Christians, by their very nature, are akin to doormats or dumbbells. Jesus does not believe that we should be either. He knew that He was sending the disciples out into a skeptic, cynical world. He advised them to be "wise as serpents;" some translations read "...shrewd as snakes" - hardly a mamby-pamby, go-ahead-and-run-straight-over-me attitude. At the same time, He asked for us to be "...harmless as doves." Be loving, polite and helpful, but know what you are about and always watch your back.
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