During my training to become a Hostage Negotiator, I learned an interesting fact. When a hostage event reaches a critical point and the hostage-takers slip hoods or masks over the faces of their hostages, an execution was imminent. It was at that moment a SWAT rescue was planned and performed.

A mask made a hostage less human. It buffered the personal aspect of the victim by removing the unique identifier of their personhood – their face.  Take this illustration where you think it might have application. Not all is as it seems and not all we are being asked to do falls under the banner of the greater good.

While we are told in Scripture to be as innocent as a dove we are also told to be as shrewd as a serpent. Our response options are not limited to only becoming a submissive dove. If at some point the hostages realize a rescue is not forthcoming it is up to the hostages to remove their masks/hoods and fight back as intently as the shrewdest of serpents.  Their lives and their freedom depend on it.