What does Matthew 7:6 mean:“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”?

1. At first this seems rather harsh, kind of judgmental. But Jesus is reminding us that being non-judgmental doesn’t mean we are undiscerning, wasteful or silly. Some people are so hardened to the message of God’s grace that they will not listen. We do not need to continually spend our time trying to convince them. He uses a well-known proverb to make his point.

2. What I hear Him saying is that respect for others also ought to show itself in respecting their rejection of God’s love. If it becomes evident that someone is aggressively negative to the message of Jesus, don’t keep pushing it. At this point, like a pig in the mud, they’re rejecting the pearls for the mud. Jesus warns us that if we are insensitive to their resistance, they might fight back against us.

3. So being non-judgmental does not mean being stupid. Some people are content in their “mud”, and we have to respect that. This doesn’t mean that we stop praying. We can continue to pray for the opportunity when they will come back and ask us for those pearls again.

4. This is good advice for parents (as hard as it is to compare our adult children to pigs), that we should be very careful not to push to hard. Be loving, be sensitive, be prayerful, but if they resist the message of Jesus, don’t push it. Pull back… and pray.