Bible Questions and Answers
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Genesis 3:1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made.
Matthew 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
2 Corinthians 11:3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
The serpent became a model of subtle thinking. In Matthew, the Lord, urges us to use our intelligence in precisely the opposite way that the serpent did - effectively but harmlessly. I suppose that in a certain sense we could be thankful for the serpent in that it portrays graphically the opposite of the kind of thinking/behaviour that should characterize our lives. So, in that sense it is useful and I can see being thankful for that usefulness.
Should we be thankful for the "Serpent" per se. I don't think so. "Serpent" thinking is at the root of all our problems. Until we can turn our natural "serpent" thought process into the "dove" or spirit thought process, sin and death will reign supreme in our lives. Rather I think we should give thanks for our deliverance from our "serpent" nature and transformation from that to the "mind of the spirit".
Romans 8:1-9 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot; 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
I hope you have found this helpful.
God bless,
Mike
