“SMART AND TENDERHEARTED”

19 “For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil.”

Romans 16:19

We have been working on a series on living a victorious Christian life, in light of the enemy’s deceptive schemes and our mandate to remain faithful to God. In our previous blog, we mentioned that a discerning mind is necessary to detect false teaching and avoid being deceived.

Here’s another spiritual weapon you can arm yourself with:

Christians are to seek wisdom and make biblically sound decisions.

It is clear that the Romans were living a life of obedience, and Paul praises them for doing so. In fact, in all of Paul’s letters, he commends his readers for their obedience except for the Galatians, who traded the gospel for deceptive teachings.

To live the Christian life successfully, we must be wise enough to avoid harm and gentle enough to avoid causing it.

Jesus demonstrated these traits in the way He taught. He knew how to discern the differences in His audiences, used parables to both feed and weed, and refused to be caught in the many traps that His enemies laid for Him. Before sending the disciples on a mission, He told them these words:

16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

Matthew 10:16

Using two similes in one statement, Jesus instructed His disciples on how to behave in the midst of unbelievers. Some intentionally caused them harm, but he told them not to fight fire with fire. Instead, Jesus commanded them to be wise by avoiding the snares set for them and be gentle by having a blameless heart.

Likewise, we are instructed by Scripture to be wise in dealing with others. We should exercise good judgment and keep away from things that can damage our testimony. Our lives are under the scrutiny of a judgmental world. But if we apply biblical principles to our daily living, it will not be easy for our haters to justify their hatred of us. Therefore, let’s not give the enemy any grounds to convict us of wrongdoing.

Pursue the Savior today!

Photo by Iva Rajović on Unsplash