Devotionals by Dr. M. Craig Barnes
Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will
trample them under foot and turn and maul you. --
Within every life God has placed some of his own holy treasure. Perhaps this is the
discovery that you are his beloved child. Or maybe it's a cherished passage of Scripture
that makes sense of your life. Or maybe the sacred treasure is a sense of divine calling
and mission.
All of God's holiest gifts are stored in your heart. If you allow needy, hungry people to
rush into your heart to grab these treasures, Jesus cautioned, you'll feel mauled and violated.
That is why you have to keep a gate around your heart. Only you can decide when you will open
the gate and give someone access to this Holy of Holies where you have met God. It doesn't
matter how angry or demanding people may get around you, they cannot gain access to the core
of your life unless you open the gate and invite them inside.
The other danger, that you also have to avoid, is keeping the gate of your heart locked all
the time. Holy things do not have much of a shelf life, and if they are not eventually shared
they will whither away. So there have to be a few people that you trust to enter all the way
into the core of your life. When the trusted ones arrive there and behold the beauty of what
God has given you, nothing is taken away. Instead, they just want to join you in worship.
-- Craig Barnes