Matthew 10:16
Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.
This was the instruction of Jesus to His followers when He sent them out to spread the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Sometimes we Christians can be as poisonous as snakes and as timid as doves - or as vicious as wolves and silly as sheep!!
But let's stop and consider the attributes that Jesus wants us to adopt as we carry His message to those we mix with.
As we see from the Gospels, The Holy Spirit took the form of a dove many times during Jesus' earthly life.
It made a clear and concise sign pointing towards Jesus in a gentle manner. So should we.
All doves have relatively small heads in comparison with their bodies (so we shouldn't be big headed, but give glory to God).
Doves fly away from aggressive conflict - they don't pick arguments! They dwell where this is peace - a lesson to us all.
They share responsibilities - mothers and fathers take turns incubating the eggs, a process that takes two to three weeks. When the young are born, their parents feed them crop milk, a secretion that both males and females form in their oesophagus.
So we are each called to nurture and feed those young in the faith on the milk of God's word.
Do I know enough of God's Word to secrete it from my heart and feed it to others when needed?
In the same way that nursing infants cry for milk, you must intensely crave the pure spiritual milk of God’s Word. For this “milk” will cause you to grow into maturity, fully nourished and strong for life
1 Peter 2:2
Comments