I have a bit of a problem, my problem is that I am a bit addicted to casting every pearl of wisdom out to whomever will listen on social media. This however is not what God is doing, this is just me. The Lord teaches me …and I promptly broadcast, I struggle with this almost daily. only about 10% of the things I want to post do I actually post. I am a recovering pearl caster.
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. – Jesus Christ in Matt 7:6
In context, if you read a few verses above this the “dogs” and the “swine” are also referred to as “your brother”. This analogy of dogs and swine seems really harsh to me but it is from the Lord so I accept it. To be fair I think we all do this at different times of life.
According to this verse throwing pearls of wisdom to swine will cause them to do two things, 1) trample the pearls themselves… which is an insulting waste 2) turn at you and tear you to pieces.
Jesus was amazing at living out this concept in his ministry, he taught openly to all while at the same time also concealing his wisdom to some in parables. He also had circles of closeness, people had to make an effort to get to him, they had to seek him, they had to drop everything and follow him. He then rewarded their pursuit of him.
From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
There is an intensity required to press into the things of God. If you want to grow, if you want to know the Lord more deeply, even if you want to understand what the Lord is doing now.
Perhaps this is also true in how we minister, ministry is not just displaying to everyone whatever the Lord is showing you because you have to come up with something to please the people. Ministry is not just sharing whatever the Lord shows us. Ministry is doing what the Lord is doing, helping him do through us, acting not autonomously for him but allowing him to act through us. The Lord is not displaying all of his wisdom and knowledge to anyone and everyone, especially to those hostile to wisdom, in fact he conceals to the hostile and avoids “throwing his pearls to swine”.
My major concern is to never be one of those swine who trample wisdom and tear people apart.
How do you react when you hear people throwing pearls of wisdom?
