Be Wise as Serpents, Innocent as Doves

Jesus' field instructions for the twelve, sent as sheep among wolves. He asked for two traits almost never found in the same person.

Innocence without wisdom is naivety, and wisdom without innocence is cunning. Jesus commands the full pair: eyes wide open, hands completely clean. Followers are to be impossible to corrupt and hard to fool, shrewd about the world without becoming like it.

Where you are naive, get educated: understand the room, the incentives, the risks. Where you are calculating, get clean: drop the manipulation even when it would work. Pursue both moves at once.