«　WEEK 4　DAY 2　»

　　Matt. 7:6-8 Do not give that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the hogs, lest they trample them with their feet, and turn and tear you. Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.

　　[In Matthew 7:6] that which is holy must refer to the objective truth that belongs to God, and your pearls must refer to the subjective experiences which are ours. Dogs do not have hoofs nor do they chew the cud, and hogs divide the hoofs, but do not chew the cud. Thus, both are unclean (Lev. 11:4, 7). According to what is revealed in 2 Peter 2:12, 19-22, and Philippians 3:2, the dogs and the hogs here refer to people who are religious, but not clean. (Life-study of Matthew, p. 288)

　　Matthew 7:6 is also related to the matter of taking care of others. Many times when you have seen a certain truth, doctrine, or light, you tell others about it with no regard to whether they are “dogs,” “lambs,” or “wolves.” You care only for your feeling of excitement. You may say, “Oh, I have seen the light concerning the church life! The church is glorious and wonderful!” In your excitement, you may share this with the wrong person. This is giving what is holy to the dogs. When you are about to give something holy to others, you must consider those you are speaking to. You should not give the holy things to dogs, nor cast your pearls before hogs. When you talk to others about the holy things, or the truths, and the pearls, or the experiences, you must observe the basic principle of taking care of others. You must determine whether or not people can receive what you intend to share. You must also perceive how much they can receive. In other words, when you talk to others about spiritual things, do not speak according to your feelings or desires; rather, speak to them according to their capacity to receive what you have to say.

　　If you take care of others, you will not share everything with everybody, and there are some to whom you will not give your testimony. This is the principle of the kingdom people in dealing with others....You will be wise in dealing with them, considering what the “dogs” can take or what the “hogs” can understand. But if you are excited and care only for yourself and not for others, you will get into trouble or even cause trouble. In the past some of our young people have gone to other meetings, and, caring only for their zeal, they spoke out unwisely. They were on fire, but because they did not care for others, they only caused trouble.

　　The kingdom people must be the wisest of people. Whenever we contact others, we should know what their temperature is, and we should care for their situation. We should do things in a proper way and not provoke the dogs to bite us or the hogs to attack us. They may turn and tear us.

　　Verses 7 and 8 of Matthew 7...mean that we must look to the heavenly Father as we are dealing with others. We must ask Him, seek Him, and knock for Him. Many times we have failed to do this. But these verses indicate that at the very time we are contacting people and dealing with them, we must look to the Lord and say, “Lord, tell me how to contact these people. Lord, show me how to deal with them.” Sometimes simply asking will not be adequate. We must seek and even knock. This indicates that contacting people is a serious matter. Never think that it is an insignificant thing. We, the kingdom people, must approach it seriously, never doing it in a light or loose way or merely according to our feeling. Rather, we must do so by taking care of others. We must ask for a way, seek after a way, and even knock at the heavenly door for a way. Thus, we must ask, seek, and knock; then we shall have the proper way to contact people. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 288-291)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msg. 23