6 “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.
Matthew 7:6
Dear God, this verse almost feels like it is on an island in the middle of this sermon. It’s right after not judging people–this feels like judging–and right before ask, seek, and knock. I supposed I should point out that this is the New Living Translation. The NIV starts with, “Do not give dogs what is sacred.” The note in my NIV Study Bible for verse 6 says, “Teaching should be given in accordance with the spiritual capacity of the learners. dogs. The unclean dogs of the street were held in low esteem.”
Well, I don’t know exactly what to do with this verse. I suppose it might be easier if I were to think of living as your disciple in the midst of people who are hateful towards you. How would I respond to them? How did you respond to them? Would it be foolishness to try to share my faith with them because it would only inflame their anger and turn them more against you? Is it better that I just love them and then have them ask me about you through the relationship we build?
Frankly, I’ve always struggled with this one sentence. It just seems so incongruous with the rest of your teachings. It seems out of step even with the first five verses of this chapter. The Communicator’s Commentary – Matthew by Myron Augsburger even seems to struggle with this verse a little: “The word-pictures in verse 6 are not easy to interpret. They evidently mean that we should not handle the pearls of the Gospel carelessly or present truths of grace to persons who will only seek to destroy them…the early church used this verse to mean discrimination in the fellowship with respect to pseudobelievers and followers of the various religions of the Roman Empire…Basically the passage is a call for discernment in relating to others.”
Father, give me a lot of discernment today. I have some leading to do at my work through some tricky waters. Help me to be exactly what you need me to be for people whom you love and who love you. Be glorified in my life.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 
Matthew 7:6
6 “Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.
Matthew 7:6
Dear God, this verse almost feels like it is on an island in the middle of this sermon. It’s right after not judging people–this feels like judging–and right before ask, seek, and knock. I supposed I should point out that this is the New Living Translation. The NIV starts with, “Do not give dogs what is sacred.” The note in my NIV Study Bible for verse 6 says, “Teaching should be given in accordance with the spiritual capacity of the learners. dogs. The unclean dogs of the street were held in low esteem.”
Well, I don’t know exactly what to do with this verse. I suppose it might be easier if I were to think of living as your disciple in the midst of people who are hateful towards you. How would I respond to them? How did you respond to them? Would it be foolishness to try to share my faith with them because it would only inflame their anger and turn them more against you? Is it better that I just love them and then have them ask me about you through the relationship we build?
Frankly, I’ve always struggled with this one sentence. It just seems so incongruous with the rest of your teachings. It seems out of step even with the first five verses of this chapter. The Communicator’s Commentary – Matthew by Myron Augsburger even seems to struggle with this verse a little: “The word-pictures in verse 6 are not easy to interpret. They evidently mean that we should not handle the pearls of the Gospel carelessly or present truths of grace to persons who will only seek to destroy them…the early church used this verse to mean discrimination in the fellowship with respect to pseudobelievers and followers of the various religions of the Roman Empire…Basically the passage is a call for discernment in relating to others.”
Father, give me a lot of discernment today. I have some leading to do at my work through some tricky waters. Help me to be exactly what you need me to be for people whom you love and who love you. Be glorified in my life.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
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Posted by John D. Willome on August 1, 2024 in Matthew, Sermon on the Mount
Tags: Myron Augsburger, The Communicator's Commentary