“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you” (Matthew 7:6).

These are strong words, but they were spoken by the Lord Jesus Himself, and so should be obeyed. Apparently there are some people who are such active enemies of the gospel that it is not only futile but counterproductive to deal with them at all about spiritual truths.

A pig encountering a pearl while rooting for food is incapable of appreciating its great value and will simply trample it in the mud. A vicious dog will react against anyone approaching him, even one speaking pious words, and will aggressively try to tear him to pieces. And, sad to say, it is obvious that such human “pigs” and “dogs” abound everywhere in our modern world, impervious to the beauty and wisdom of God’s word.

Nevertheless, the Lord has commanded us to “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15), and we must try to reach them. When they have heard it, however, and still continue to ridicule and reject its wonderful message and to attack and libel its messengers, it soon becomes a waste of time to continue dealing with them. “My Spirit shall not always strive with man,” God said long ago (Genesis 6:3).

When the unbelieving scribes and Pharisees, after seeing His miracles and hearing His wonderful teachings, still continued to reject Christ and even to plot against His life, He finally said: “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind” (Matthew 15:14). And when King Herod, who had killed John the Baptist, “questioned with Him in many words . . . He answered him nothing” (Luke 23:9).

We can continue to pray for them, but in the meantime, we must “walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time” (Colossians 4:5). HMM