Matthew 6:6Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they tram
Matthew 6:6 Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. In the temple whatever was offered on the altar to God was considered holy! So whether it be the flesh of the bull or ram it was offered to God to be burnt as an offering. A fragrance pleasing to the lord. (Instead of indulging ourselves in the flesh of the meat from the sacrifice we offer to God showing Him that we believe that he is all we need , our provision) Once something is offered it is made holy. As it belongs to God now. This is the first part of the parable. -We are Holy When Jesus calls us, embraces us, saves us he makes us Holy! We offer ourselves to him on the altar! A living sacrifice. He cleans us up and purifies our souls. It is not the easiest process sometimes. Like the offering on the altar sometimes we have to be taken through the fire to be made Holy. Burning away all impurities. But when we are we shine. We shine brighter than any silver or gold refined through fire. Romans 12:1 To give what was offered on the altar to the dogs was a detestable and blasphemous thing to do back then. Dogs are vile. Wild in nature they act only on instinct. Fornicating, dedicating, And eating whatever is edible dead or alive. This is how Jesus relates how we are made holy and how we should not give our selves to the ways of the world. The world imitates the traits of dogs and other animals relating them to instinct. But we are not dogs! So we should not give what we are to the ways of animals. “Be holy for I am holy” I have given myself to the ways of the dogs countless of times before. God has made what was vile and disgusting clean and holy Vito have given it away to vermin. But he is faithful to cleanse me and purify what I have blemished. -Our Treasure In the Gospel Jesus refers to the kingdom of heaven to a pearl. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:45 This is our treasure. When we first get it we want to give up everything for it. And we do! We stop doing all the stuff that we learn disconnects us from God. And we hold on to the truth that set us free. Our treasure. Our friendship with Jesus is that treasure. Knowing him and being with him. Heaven is a bonus. But to know the creator of heaven and to be considered his friend is out real prize! Therefore why should we throw it to the pigs . A forbidden animal to the children of Israel. Detestable in all its way. Disease filled and foul. This is the world we live in. When we throw our treasure to the pigs we decide to throw our faith, our holiness and being set apart, or integrity, and our love to the world expecting something back. We think the pigs will be thankful for what we give them. When in fact they aren’t thankful at all. That can’t eat pearls! They can’t do anything with the kingdom. So instead they turn around to attack you. When we give up our treasure for worldly things (concerns on money systems, politics, immorality, and malice) we only end up hurt. We begin to hate and begin to behave immorally. We must hold on to our treasure … -- source link