Command 16 : Do Not Cast Pearls | Day 106

Identify Holy Things!

We will miss some of the most important opportunities in life if we fail to identify holy things. Moses learned this while in the desert. God got his attention with an unusual burning bush, but Moses did not receive his divine assignment from God until he recognized that the ground on which he stood was holy ground. (See Exodus 3.)

The Philistines were delighted when they captured the Ark of God, until plagues broke out among them and they realized that they were dealing with something far more holy and sacred than they had imagined.

Merchants thought they were doing God a service by changing secular money into Temple coins and providing sacrifices for travelers to purchase, but Jesus took whips and drove the merchants out of His holy Temple. God's concern today is that we also recognize holy things and treat them with the honor and reverence they deserve. Thus, Jesus commands:

Command Sixteen: “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you” (Matthew 7:6).

In the New Testament, the Greek word most frequently translated as holy is hagios, which describes things pertaining to God or that which is separated unto Him. There are two types of holy things: those that are intrinsically holy, such as our holy God, the holy Scriptures, and God's holy name; and those things that are made holy by their dedication to God, such as our bodies and our possessions. Before God can do a mighty work in us, we must recognize holy things.

Over the years, I have been amazed by how many teenagers have serious thoughts about suicide. In fact, parents would be shocked to know how prevalent this is among their own sons and daughters. In trying to help these teenagers, I have often said to them, "Since you will lose your life anyway if you kill yourself, why don't you dedicate your body to God?" They respond that they cannot do this. They seem to be locked in to a course of self-destruction from which they cannot break free. As I ask them more questions, it usually becomes apparent that they have given their bodies over to the pleasures of sin. The combination of guilt and being slaves to sensual pleasure is bringing them to destruction. This is the message of God's warning in I Corinthians 6:19:

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"

As believers, we must never forget that we were bought with the precious blood of Christ and must therefore glorify Him in body and spirit because they belong to Him. (See I Corinthians 6:20.) If we yield the members of our body to Satan, we are casting that which is holy to the dogs, and we will experience the consequences of such actions. Therefore, as a primary step to fulfilling this command, let's make sure we have presented our bodies to God as living and holy sacrifices. (See Romans 12:1.)