I used to wonder why our dear Master placed the need for wisdom before harmlessness in this statement: "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)
Then one day I came across something the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science says on this topic: "...be wise and harmless, for without the former the latter were impracticable. A lack of wisdom betrays Truth into the hands of evil as effectually as does a subtle conspirator; the motive is not as wicked, but the result is as injurious." This is from "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, page 128
Of the many blessings I've gained from a study of the Bible and the teachings of Christian Science, acquiring more wisdom in my day-to-day dealings is right up there. Doing our best to obey God, to live in accord with what Jesus taught and practiced, listening for divine direction in the seemingly trivial aspects of daily life, we find ourselves manifesting greater wisdom and becoming more judicious. Gaining more Christly clearsightedness, we experience the right distance, balance, freedom in ourinteractions with others. Nothing can have so dynamic and healing an impact on our own experience and the world as the spiritual knowledge we're gaining and applying in Christin Science. Therefore, we learn to keep human opinion and influence at arm's length and entrust our unfolding spiritual understanding to God alone.
How rewarding it is to cultivate the consciousness that we are inseparable from God--to feel our oneness with the all-powerful forces of good and our consequent dissociation from circumstances we no longer need to be involved with. We more and more enjoy what the Old Testament promises: "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."
One cannot be following more closely what God gave His Son to give to the world without experiencing a more discriminating consciousness, without becoming wiser in what he says and does. And this is all to the good, as Mary Baker Eddy pointed out in the words above.
