Serpent AND Dove

Jesus encourages his followers to be as wise as serpents and as gentle as doves.  We have construed that to mean that a follower of Jesus must cultivate a tough-mindedness (as opposed to soft-mindedness) and a tender-heartedness (as opposed to hard-heartedness). 

Jesus says we must cultivate both the tough-mind and the tender-heart, for one without the other does not make us whole (fully human).   A tough-mind without a tender heart makes us cold, distant, and detached from “feelings.”  A tough-mind without a tender heart lacks passion and makes us “hard-hearted.”

The hard-hearted person does not love and cannot love.  The hard-hearted person utilizes and values other people only because of their usefulness to him or a cause.  The hard-hearted never experience a real relationship, because he or she does not feel affection for any other person.  The hard-hearted are self-centered and cannot share another person’s sorrows or joys.  The hard-hearted live in isolation and do not consider themselves as part of the whole of humanity.  

The hard-hearted person has no capacity for compassion.  He or she is not affected by the plight of his or her brothers or sisters.  The hard-hearted cannot see a brother or sister’s burden, pain, or affliction.  The hard-hearted never sees people as people.  People are simply objects.  Hard-hearted persons dehumanize life.

We must cultivate both the tough-mind and the tender-heart.  One, without the other, is disastrous.  To have only “serpent qualities” without “dove qualities” is to be mean, bitter, selfish, and passionless.  To have only the dove qualities without the serpent qualities is to be sentimental, dewy-eyed, syrupy, sappy, and pathetic.

We are called to be tough-minded not soft-minded.  We are called to be tender-hearted not hard-hearted.  We are called to be BOTH tough-minded AND tender-hearted as a people, as a nation, and as a world.