“Do not give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.” — Matthew 7:6
There comes a time in our walk with God when we must understand that everything God has placed within us is not meant to be continually presented to people who have demonstrated that they have no desire to receive it. Jesus gives us a strong warning in Matthew 7:6 when He tells us not to give what is holy to dogs or throw our pearls before swine. This Scripture is not teaching us to hate people, look down upon them, or consider ourselves spiritually superior. Jesus is teaching us the importance of discernment. We must learn to recognize what is valuable, who is receptive to it, and when continuing to present something sacred to someone who continually rejects it is no longer wisdom.
A pearl represents something valuable and precious. It is not something that should be carelessly thrown onto the ground. In the same way, there are things God entrusts to us that must be handled with wisdom. God’s Word is precious. Biblical truth is precious. Godly wisdom is precious. Our testimony is precious. Our gifts, assignments, and intimate experiences with God are precious. There are things God may reveal to us that are not intended to be immediately shared with everyone simply because we are excited about what He has shown us. Everything God gives us does not automatically belong in everyone’s hands.
One of the mistakes believers make is assuming that because something came from God, everyone will recognize its value. They will not. Something can be extremely valuable and still be placed before someone who has no appreciation for it. That does not decrease the value of the pearl. It reveals something about the person receiving it. A pig cannot recognize the value of a pearl because a pearl has no meaning or usefulness to it. The pearl may be precious, but if it is placed somewhere it cannot be appreciated, it can simply be trampled into the ground. Jesus is showing us that something sacred can be treated as worthless when continually placed before someone who refuses to recognize its value.
This is why discernment is necessary. Some believers are spiritually and emotionally exhausted because they keep trying to convince people who have repeatedly demonstrated that they do not want to hear. We keep explaining. We keep defending. We keep arguing. We keep presenting Scripture. We keep trying to prove what God has said. We keep giving another explanation to someone who has already determined that they will reject whatever we say. Eventually, we become frustrated and ask, “Why won’t they listen?” But perhaps the question we need to ask is, “Why do we keep throwing the pearl?”
There is a difference between someone who does not understand truth and someone who despises truth. There is a difference between someone sincerely asking questions and someone looking for an argument. There is a difference between someone struggling to understand Scripture and someone deliberately mocking Scripture. There is a difference between someone who needs patience and someone who has repeatedly demonstrated contempt for what is sacred. Kingdom discernment helps us recognize the difference so that we do not treat every situation the same way.
Jesus Himself did not respond to everyone in the same manner. There were people He patiently taught, people He corrected, people He answered with questions, people He confronted, and even moments when He remained silent. That should teach us something. Silence is not always weakness. Walking away is not always defeat. Refusing to argue is not always fear. Sometimes silence is wisdom, and sometimes walking away is discernment.
We live in a culture where people believe they must respond to everything. Someone challenges us on social media, and we immediately feel compelled to answer. Someone misunderstands us, and we believe we must explain ourselves until they understand. Someone criticizes something God gave us, and we feel obligated to defend it. Someone rejects biblical truth, and we spend hours arguing, hoping that another Scripture or another explanation will finally force them to accept what they have already decided to reject. But Jesus never commanded us to win every argument. We are responsible for faithfully presenting truth; we are not responsible for forcing people to receive it.
There comes a point when continually arguing with someone can become poor stewardship of our time, energy, and assignment. Think about how much time we sometimes spend trying to convince people who are committed to rejecting what we are saying. Meanwhile, there may be someone else who is genuinely hungry for the very truth we are fighting to make another person receive. There are people praying for wisdom while we are wasting hours arguing with someone who despises it. There are people searching for biblical answers while we remain emotionally trapped trying to convince someone who has already made rejection their position.
We must learn to recognize spiritual hunger. There are people who will treasure what other people trample. There are people who will pray over what someone else mocks. There are people who will apply the wisdom someone else rejects. There are people who will appreciate the teaching someone else criticizes. There are people asking God for exactly what He has placed inside of us. Wisdom understands that sometimes we must stop chasing the person who continually rejects the pearl so we can recognize the person God has prepared to receive it.
This does not mean we stop loving people who reject truth. It does not mean we stop praying for them. It does not mean we decide they are beyond salvation. Someone rejecting truth today may repent tomorrow. God can change a person’s heart. But loving someone does not require us to continually argue with them. We can love someone and recognize that this particular conversation is no longer producing anything fruitful.
There is another way believers can throw their pearls before swine, and that is through oversharing. Not everything God shows us needs to be immediately announced. Some things need to mature in prayer. Some things need to remain protected while God develops them. Some things need confirmation. Some things should remain between us and God for a season. Some things should only be shared with spiritually mature people who have demonstrated that they can properly handle what is being entrusted to them.
We sometimes expose things prematurely and then become discouraged when people criticize them. We share the dream before it has developed. We announce the assignment before God has finished preparing us. We reveal intimate spiritual experiences to people who have consistently mocked spiritual things. We expose personal struggles to people who have never demonstrated that they can be trusted. Then when those things are misunderstood, mocked, repeated, or weaponized against us, we become hurt. Sometimes the lesson is not that everyone around us is against us. Sometimes the lesson is that we need greater discernment concerning what we share and with whom we share it.
Every revelation does not belong on social media. Every prophecy does not belong in a public conversation. Every private encounter with God does not require an audience. Every future plan does not need to be announced. Every personal struggle does not need to be shared with everyone who asks. Some things become unnecessarily vulnerable when they are unnecessarily exposed. This is not secrecy rooted in fear; it is stewardship rooted in wisdom.
However, we must also be careful that Matthew 7:6 does not become an excuse for spiritual arrogance. We cannot label everyone who disagrees with us a “swine.” Someone questioning our interpretation does not automatically mean they are rejecting God. Someone correcting us does not mean they are attacking what God placed inside of us. Someone telling us something we do not want to hear does not mean they are dishonoring our pearl. In fact, the verses immediately preceding Matthew 7:6 deal with hypocritical judgment and examining ourselves. Therefore, discernment must always operate alongside humility and self-examination.
Before deciding that someone is rejecting truth, we should ask ourselves whether we are actually presenting biblical truth or simply defending our personal opinion. We should ask whether the person is rejecting the Gospel or responding negatively to the way we are communicating it. We should examine whether we are continuing the conversation because the Holy Spirit is leading us or because our pride cannot tolerate being misunderstood. Sometimes what we call “defending the truth” is really defending our ego. Kingdom discernment requires enough humility to recognize the difference.
At the same time, humility does not require us to remain indefinitely in conversations that have become hostile, mocking, abusive, or unproductive. We must learn that the Kingdom requires stewardship. We steward our money, our time, our gifts, our relationships, and our opportunities. We must also steward truth, wisdom, revelation, and access to our lives.
Not everyone should have the same level of access to us. Jesus loved people, yet everyone did not have the same access to Him. Crowds heard Him teach, disciples followed Him more closely, the Twelve had a particular place in His ministry, and Peter, James, and John witnessed moments that others did not. This reminds us that loving everyone does not mean giving everyone identical access to our lives. Love everyone, but use discernment concerning access.
We can love someone and stop arguing with them. We can forgive someone and establish boundaries. We can pray for someone without telling them everything God is doing in our lives. We can desire someone’s salvation without allowing their continual hostility to consume our time and energy. We can leave the door open for repentance without standing at the door begging someone to enter. That is not hatred. That is maturity.
Jesus’ warning becomes even more serious when He says that after trampling the pearls, they may “turn and tear you to pieces.” There are times when continually exposing what is sacred to people who have demonstrated contempt for it can unnecessarily expose us to harm. Some people have shared intimate information with individuals who later used that information against them. Some have shared dreams with people who continually discouraged them. Some have revealed vulnerabilities to people who later weaponized them. Wisdom asks, “Has this person demonstrated that they can properly handle what I am giving them?”
Trust should therefore be accompanied by discernment. We should treat everyone with dignity, but everyone does not automatically qualify for intimate access to our hearts, assignments, struggles, plans, and spiritual experiences. Boundaries do not necessarily mean rejection. Boundaries can be an act of stewardship.
Matthew 10:14 gives us another important principle. When Jesus sent His disciples out, He told them that if people would not welcome them or listen to their words, they were to leave and shake the dust from their feet. There comes a point when rejection requires us to move forward rather than remain trapped trying to force someone to receive. A teacher cannot make someone teachable. A mentor cannot make someone receive instruction. A preacher cannot make someone repent. A leader cannot force someone to desire transformation. We can preach, teach, warn, encourage, correct, and pray, but eventually the hearer must decide what they will do with what they have heard.
Even Jesus allowed people to walk away. That is something many believers need to understand. Sometimes our inability to release people reveals that we have taken responsibility for something God never gave us responsibility for. We believe someone’s rejection means we failed. We believe if we explain it one more time, they will finally understand. We believe if we find the perfect words, we can change their heart. But only God can change the heart. Our responsibility is to remain faithful to what He has assigned us to do.
Yet before we finish this teaching pointing at everyone we believe has trampled our pearls, we need to turn the mirror toward ourselves. Have we ever been the ones trampling what God placed before us? Have we ignored wise counsel? Have we rejected biblical correction because it offended us? Have we treated God’s Word casually? Have we despised the messenger because we did not like the message? Have we prayed for God to answer us and then rejected the answer because it required something we did not want to surrender?
God’s Word is precious. Biblical truth is precious. Sound teaching is precious. Godly correction is precious. Wisdom is precious. When God places these things before us, we should never become the very people who trample them simply because they confront our flesh. It is easy to recognize when someone else does not value what we carry. It requires maturity to recognize when we have failed to value what God has placed before us.
So perhaps Matthew 7:6 should produce two questions within every believer. The first is, “Am I continually giving something sacred to someone who has repeatedly demonstrated that they will only trample it?” The second is even more personal: “Am I trampling something sacred that God has been trying to give me?”
Discernment works both ways.
Kingdom Reflection
Before you give another explanation, another revelation, another intimate piece of your life, or another hour of argument, ask yourself whether the person has demonstrated a willingness to value what is being placed before them. But before deciding someone else is trampling your pearls, examine your own heart and ask whether you are properly valuing the truth, wisdom, correction, and instruction God has placed before you.
Kingdom Insight
Not everyone who has access to you should have access to everything God has entrusted to you. Love does not eliminate discernment, and humility does not require endless exposure to rejection. Know when to speak, know when to remain silent, know what to share, know what to protect, and know when God is telling you to move forward. Stop throwing precious things where they are continually being trampled when there may be someone else praying for the very truth you keep trying to force another person to value.
“Do not give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.” — Matthew 7:6
— Overseer Mimi