"Do not cast your pearls before swine." Mathew 7:6
The above verse was part of the sermon given on the mount by Jesus. In this teaching, Jesus had said "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swines, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." Mathew 7: 6. In this context, dogs and swines are seen as impious men - men who lack regard and respect for the gospel while pearls are the holy teachings and kind gestures. In the Mosaic law, Christians were asked to stay away from pigs as they were seen as dirty and filthy since they eat from garbage;they were regarded as unclean animals. Dogs in same manner were also considered as unclean since they always return to their vomit. No matter how man tries to tame and train these animals, they will always find pleasure in filth and dirt. The dog will always go back to its vomit and the swine will always find its delicacy in dirt. 😊. They never appreciate that which you consider precious and valuable to them. In like manner, Jesus was telling his disciples not preach or force the gospel to minds that are not receptive to the gospel. Those who do not know the value of the word will never be appreciative of the word. But this is not the focus today. The focus and the essence of today's write up is to link this figurative speech by Jesus to our personal lives.
The pearls in our lives are those precious gifts and treasures inside of us; our time, talents, skills, wise counsels, life, personalities, energy and who God has made us to be while the pigs/swines are the unappreciative and uncaring men and women who do not value what you offer to them. Such people look down on you, belittle and despise your gifts and efforts. They trample on your efforts with no regards and care less of your feelings.
Quit swimming across the ocean to be good to someone who won't cross a puddle to be good to you despite all you do for them. There are people who will never appreciate your efforts or be good to you even when you are good to them while there are those who just take advantage of your goodness (pearls). For such people, you need not waste your valuable time and efforts on them. Not everyone will see things from your point of view and not everyone places value on what you have to offer them and they don't need to agree with you. Hang around people who appreciate your pearls and let go of those who belittle your efforts.
There are those who appear nice to you for what you can physically offer like material things but are unappreciative of your efforts to help them grow mentally, spiritually, financially and otherwise. They don't care about your pearls but your physical gifts to to them. A perfect example of such people are the additional 70 disciples Jesus had after he fed the crowd with five loves of bread and two fishes. These 70 disciples were attracted to the miracles Jesus did and the physical bread he had to offer to them and not the spiritual pearls he was to offer to them. They weren't interested in the message He was to pass to them. The 70 disciples disappeared and ran away from Him when He began teaching He is the bread of life. They didn't want the eternal message Jesus was preaching but wanted more of physical bread and miracles. They could not phantom what He was saying especially when He said
"Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." John 6:53-54.
The point Jesus was trying to make was that it is not enough to be impressed by the miracles performed and the physical bread given but they must accept his death and resurrection in order to be forgiven of their sins and have eternal life but this did not go down well with them as they wanted immediate gratification (miracles and bread to eat physically) and started leaving one by one as a result of His teachings. After the 70 disciples left, Jesus turned to the 12 disciples and asked "Do you also wish to go away?" but Simon Peter answered saying, "Lord to whom do we go? you have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." John 6:68. Jesus did not even bother calling back the 70 because He did not believe in crowd neither was He ready to compel or convince anyone to follow Him knowing not everyone would accept and believe in Him.
The twelve at that time knew the kind of pearls Jesus had within him and of what importance these pearls in Jesus were in their lives and as result they stayed with Him through thick and thin and not just because Jesus performed miracles or the physical bread he could give to them when ever they were hungry but because they believed in Him and this became evident in their lives when Jesus finally ascended heaven. They (with the exception of Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus and hung himself to death) carried on the command of Jesus "Go into the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Mark 6:15. This they carried on in the face of every challenge even to the point of being stoned to death. They were willing to risk their lives telling people about Christ. When asked to stop, one of them said "As for us, we can not help speaking what we have seen and heard." Acts 4:20.
Those who appreciate your pearls will always help polish, develop and grow your gifts, talent and abilities (your pearls) and not get jealous or question your personality. They will connect you with people and speak about you even in your absence.
Quote for the day - "True beauty is measured by the pearls within you, not those around your neck." Suzy Kassem
Quit swimming across the ocean to be good to someone who won't cross a puddle to be good to you despite all you do for them. There are people who will never appreciate your efforts or be good to you even when you are good to them while there are those who just take advantage of your goodness (pearls). For such people, you need not waste your valuable time and efforts on them. Not everyone will see things from your point of view and not everyone places value on what you have to offer them and they don't need to agree with you. Hang around people who appreciate your pearls and let go of those who belittle your efforts.
There are those who appear nice to you for what you can physically offer like material things but are unappreciative of your efforts to help them grow mentally, spiritually, financially and otherwise. They don't care about your pearls but your physical gifts to to them. A perfect example of such people are the additional 70 disciples Jesus had after he fed the crowd with five loves of bread and two fishes. These 70 disciples were attracted to the miracles Jesus did and the physical bread he had to offer to them and not the spiritual pearls he was to offer to them. They weren't interested in the message He was to pass to them. The 70 disciples disappeared and ran away from Him when He began teaching He is the bread of life. They didn't want the eternal message Jesus was preaching but wanted more of physical bread and miracles. They could not phantom what He was saying especially when He said
"Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." John 6:53-54.
The point Jesus was trying to make was that it is not enough to be impressed by the miracles performed and the physical bread given but they must accept his death and resurrection in order to be forgiven of their sins and have eternal life but this did not go down well with them as they wanted immediate gratification (miracles and bread to eat physically) and started leaving one by one as a result of His teachings. After the 70 disciples left, Jesus turned to the 12 disciples and asked "Do you also wish to go away?" but Simon Peter answered saying, "Lord to whom do we go? you have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God." John 6:68. Jesus did not even bother calling back the 70 because He did not believe in crowd neither was He ready to compel or convince anyone to follow Him knowing not everyone would accept and believe in Him.
The twelve at that time knew the kind of pearls Jesus had within him and of what importance these pearls in Jesus were in their lives and as result they stayed with Him through thick and thin and not just because Jesus performed miracles or the physical bread he could give to them when ever they were hungry but because they believed in Him and this became evident in their lives when Jesus finally ascended heaven. They (with the exception of Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus and hung himself to death) carried on the command of Jesus "Go into the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Mark 6:15. This they carried on in the face of every challenge even to the point of being stoned to death. They were willing to risk their lives telling people about Christ. When asked to stop, one of them said "As for us, we can not help speaking what we have seen and heard." Acts 4:20.
Those who appreciate your pearls will always help polish, develop and grow your gifts, talent and abilities (your pearls) and not get jealous or question your personality. They will connect you with people and speak about you even in your absence.
Quote for the day - "True beauty is measured by the pearls within you, not those around your neck." Suzy Kassem
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