CYNICAL SUSPICIONS - SHEEP OR WOLF

A guy at work told me his parents had a large wholesale floral business and one day his dad walked in on a trusted employee who was signing a large check to herself. She was embezzling. After the legal hassles they decided to go into the retail floral business and once again they were embezzled to the tune of several million dollars. Here in Las Vegas, one tends to see too much of this—embezzling, fraud, bait and switch, etc. It’s easy to get cynical and suspicious of people in this kind of environment. So, as Christians, what do we do?

Jesus said, “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Wisdom comes from God. Not everyone out there is a wolf. There are plenty of sheep in God’s flock that we just haven’t met yet and only the Holy Spirit can help us decipher who is what.

We become wise as serpents by listening to the Spirit of Christ within. If we have suspicions, we ask for God’s wisdom and then believe what He shows us and act on it. Meanwhile we can stay harmless as doves by doing our best to try to see people through the Lord’s eyes. Again, we can ask for wisdom regarding this, “Lord how do You see this person?”

 At this time of year, when we travel and may be in situations where there are lots of new people around us, we want to walk in the wisdom of the Lord.  In any situation we are not alone. We have the Lord Jesus with us. And “if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:5). The Lord is generous with His wisdom and He doesn’t get mad at us if we ask for some.

Love, Carolyn

PS. My book WINGS is full of great true stories and an exciting Holy Spirit workbook for 2014. Get it today on Amazon, in print or e-book under my name.