"Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. (Matthew 7:6 NASB)
This is an important passage in light of Matthew 7:1-5. It would serve you well to read the previous couple posts, or at least those verses before continuing on. Matthew 7:6 is Jesus putting the brakes on what could be a runaway truck full of 'anything goes' disciples. Matthew 7:1-5 is a fearful warning against judging others, telling us we will be judged by our standard, and that we have to much sin of our own to be worried about dealing with someone else's sinfulness. Now Jesus knows the human heart, and He knows full well that we would take these passages not too judge and run with them beyond where we should. We would take an anything goes attitude and ask questions like... How can we refuse membership to so and so? Or how can we say this lifestyle is wrong? Or how can we say that these people teach false doctrine? How can we stand against this practice? And so on. Jesus does not stop at verse 5 however, in fact it is a though He foresaw our thoughts and said, "Hold up, you certainly are not to judge, at the same time don't get carried away and give what is holy to dogs, and cast your pearls to swine." This verse is a great qualifier to the previous 5, and given its proximity to those verses it is reasonable to believe that Jesus meant these verses as a qualifier.
So what is the application? You are not to be standing in judgment of others unless you are exercising true humility knowing the extreme depths of your own depravity, even then you do it with tremendous caution. At the same time you do not go so far as to pour out your pearls (valued wisdom) and that which is holy (things set apart for the Lord) to just anyone. Jesus knows that we would have the tendency to do that, but if we do, not only will our holy things and pearls be rejected but we will also be hurt in the process. Again, this is a fine line that we must walk with the upmost care. We can easily get caught in the 'so and so, is not worthy and I am not going to cast my pearls to that swine' and forget the fact that we are not worthy either. At the same time, in our realization of our unworthiness we could just go out and cast precious gifts from the Lord out to everyone, even though they were not gifts meant for everyone. If you have a great insight into deeper things your job is not necessarily to share it with everyone, if you do you will find that people will first reject the insight you had, then turn and reject you for having that insight. Be in prayer and use caution, that is all.
I must confess I am having great difficulty putting into words what I am trying to say tonight. I will leave it here for now, and maybe revise this later.
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