In verse 3 the Lord says, “And why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the log in your own eye?” As the kingdom people, living in a humble spirit under the heavenly ruling of the kingdom, we must consider the log in our own eye whenever we look at the splinter in our brother’s eye. The splinter in our brother’s eye must remind us that we have a log in our own eye.
Verse 4 continues, “Or how can you say to your brother, Let me remove the splinter from your eye, and behold, the log is in your eye?” The Lord’s word in verses 3 and 4 is very deep. His intention here is not to charge us to take care of ourselves; it is to charge us to take care of others.
Verse 5 says, “Hypocrite, first remove the log from your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.” As long as the log remains in our eye, our sight is blurred, and we cannot see clearly. In pointing out a brother’s fault, we must realize that we have a greater fault. Our brother’s fault is likened to a splinter, and ours is likened to a log. Thus, once again, the Lord’s intention is that we take care of others. Whenever you try to point out someone else’s fault, you may care for the fault, but not for the person. When you make someone else’s fault to be as large as a log, it shows you care only for his fault, not for him. If you care for the brother, you will not care only for his fault. Rather, you would say, “His fault is merely a splinter when compared to mine, which is a huge log. Therefore, I am happy to overlook his fault.”
The Lord’s intention in 7:1-12 is that we take care of others. The principle for the kingdom people in dealing with others is that we must take care of others. We should observe this principle in all our dealings with people. Do not simply act according to your feeling, but take care of the other person. This is the basic principle.
Verse 6 says, “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.” “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.
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.
Many times the young people have gone out to tell others about the church or about certain spiritual things they have experienced. They cared only for their feeling, not for the feelings of the others. Unfortunately, a number of times the others were dogs or hogs, unable to receive anything that was said. Instead, they turned upon the ones sharing, trampled upon the pearls, and tried to bite the brothers. Thus, when we have seen the light concerning certain truths or have experienced certain precious things of the Lord and desire to share them with others, we must take care of those with whom we are sharing. We must ask ourselves, “Can these people receive my testimony? Can they take what I intend to share with them?” 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.
Often, we talk to others according to our feelings without taking care of their feelings. Perhaps on a certain day you may be very zealous regarding the church life and the Lord’s recovery. But in your zeal you may offend some “dogs.” At other times, because of some fresh experience of Christ, you may say, “Oh, Christ is wonderful! Christ is the brass, the iron, and the weapons to defeat the enemy.” You are so excited about your experience that you tell everyone about it. But some may turn to attack you, saying, “What! We never heard that Christ is weapons. Where did you learn this? And how can you say that Christ is brass and iron? This is blasphemy!” However, if you take care of others, you may not say a word about your fresh experience of Christ. Rather, 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.