Pearls & Pigs

“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.”

Matthew 7:6

You are amped up in winning souls for Christ. That is wonderful! Each and every believer has this strong desire to tell everyone about Jesus around the time of conversion and then reality sets in. Months pass by, then years go by and all the initial burst of boldness just goes AWOL, but don’t worry. You are not alone in this. We all slack off. The good thing is that while we have breath in us, we have every opportunity to make things right.

Although the internet is looking more and more like an enabler for everything that is evil, we can use it to reach souls for Jesus. I write about what’s going on inside- the good, the bad and the ugly. I’m not a mind reader, but what’s interesting in this particular platform (WP) is that we can pretty much read everyone’s thoughts, so that technically makes all of us mind readers. We can read thoughts from those who hate God with a passion, thoughts from those who hold to two opposing views simultaneously who project an aura of utter rebellion and yet confused, encouraging thoughts, joyful and happy thoughts, suicidal thoughts and everything in between (Luke 6:45). With this in mind, we can get an idea on who is truly receptive to the message.

The verse at the very top is a great reminder that we need discernment as we throw our treasure to the world. This treasure is our hope in Jesus Christ and not everyone is willing to receive it. There are two reasons and those would be that

• the message is contrary to the social norms of today where everything is about feelings and not the truth
• the world, even though they appear not to care actually scrutinize the messenger

We can think of the pastor who recently generated some bad press by giving his wife a Lamborghini while people in his congregation probably scrounged the money to give to him in good faith not knowing it was for his personal agenda and not God’s work. This is a sad example but all too common that some spiritual leaders/messengers become the stumbling block (Matthew 23:15). The messenger’s faux pas automatically becomes a standard generalization for Christianity and this is why we hear people say pastors are just out to get your money.

Don’t let this perception problem discourage you from discipling people. Oftentimes, God allows people to cross our path and even though on the outside they might seem to reject the message, God is personally dealing with them (Isaiah 55:11).

Christian, by default, you are a fisher of men. Even if you catch nothing, keep fishing.

There are times it will go well and other times, the Holy Spirit will not prompt you to engage (Proverbs 23:9). Some people ask questions but they have already made up their minds on the answer. When you encounter such a person, you can be sure their intent is to destroy your faith. Remember when Jesus said nothing to Herod at all (Luke 23:9)? It is when this happens that you take your pearls to someone who is sincerely interested, someone like a Nicodemus (John 3:1-14). The Holy Spirit will make this clear to you.

You may never get to know in this life the people whom God is drawing to Himself through your testimony. The mission to make disciples is anything but light and is not short on obstacles and opposition coming from the enemy. The road we travel is called the “Narrow road” for a reason. God will send you to the person who needs to hear the truth like the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40) or He would bring them to you, and when that happens, just be prepared. Divine appointments can happen anytime and anywhere and most especially even here on WordPress.

[Image: natgeo. Thanks to the original poster/photographer]