Judging, Reproving, Witnessing

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

Mat 7:6  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.

Judging.

Reproving.

Witnessing.

Our Savior wants us to comprehend where we are in this grand scheme of life.

Are we to judge?

Judge not lest we be judge. How we judge we will be judged.

Are we to reprove?

Take the BEAM (the great faults) out of our own eyes before we dare to take the MOTES (any little fault, even the littlest of faults) out of the eyes of others.

Are we to witness and if so, to who do we witness?

Give NOT that which is holy to those who are unreceptive, unhearing, hardened of heart.

How do we know who is unreceptive unless we first give an opportunity to receive?

How do we know who will hear unless we first give them a chance to listen?

How do we know who has hardened their hearts unless we know them?

Seriously, how do we know who is a dog, or a swine?  These are incredibly pointed descriptions of people and aren't we making judgments when we label someone a 'dog' or a 'swine'? At what point do those labels apply? 

You've heard of numerous situations where 'religious' people badger others constantly. Relatives and friends, as well as strangers, who are forever bashing their religion over the heads of all they meet, and they do so because in their minds they are witnessing.  As relatives and friends of people of this sort they are tolerated, but by a lot of people they are not. They are avoided if possible because  they are trying to force something upon those who are unreceptive.  Does this mean we shouldn't witness once the message has been rejected? It means our witness must be our life, not our words.

Our LIVES are a witness.

If we are LIVING as our SAVIOR is teaching us to live in HIS love, loving others, our lives will reflect that LOVE, it won't be able to be different. You can't hide this love, it's something that cannot be hidden.  God's love in us will shine through in all we do.

When we are called to witness to others and actually preach the word of God, the message of the Kingdom of Heaven, Salvation in Jesus Christ, then we must witness and if the reception of our witnessing is rejected we are NOT to continue to preach to those unwilling to listen. If we choose to keep up this preaching to those that CLEARLY do not want to hear the word of God then we can expect that our words will be trampled upon and they will rend us (physically, mentally, emotionally).  We are NOT to force others to listen, to believe. When we use force or even try to use any sort of force then we are not living the love of CHRIST, He who would NEVER use force.

Christ Himself remained silent many times. Christ Himself would say what needed to be said, but He did NOT fight with others and force His message on them. Should we EVER try to force the Lord's truth on anyone, ever?!  NO!

Christ is our example and He would never want us to force the word of the kingdom of heaven upon anyone.  When someone absolutely does NOT want to hear the word of God we are NOT to give it to them.

Mat 7:6  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.

Give not that which is holy unto the dogs.

Cast not our pearls before swine.

The dogs and the swine are those who just like the animals unable to comprehend truth, only it is by their own choice, not because they were created that way.

If we give holy things to dogs, or pearls to swine it means NOTHING to them, nothing at all it is wasted.  If we spend our time wasting God's holy things and the pearls of wisdom we are given by the grace of God, then we are accountable for choosing to waste that time when God clearly would rather we move on or even remain silent.

All by HIS grace may we listen to Him and do only that which is good in His eyes. All in HIS righteousness, none in ours, for ours is as filthy rags.