Pigs with bling

As you can see from our passage this week we will be looking at pigs with expensive jewellery, and what that means to us non-pig owning people.

The chances are that pigs being used in this illustration was not an accident or simply the first farmyard animal that the author, John thought of. In Jewish culture pigs are seen as being dirty undesirable animals, so no respectable Jew would want to be seen associating with them. So in this context putting expensive jewellery on a pig would seem much more out of place than on a more respectable animal, such as a horse.

So is this more agricultural advice from the Bible? Well no, it shows us the importance of wisdom and good judgement over looks. This isn't necessarily saying that all beautiful people are stupid, or that ugly people are wise. What it is saying is that we need to be less shallow, and look deeper at the people we come across. Do you really want to spend time with someone with a pretty face, but an ugly personality?

We need to value people based on their wisdom and actions rather than just how they look. Resist the temptation to make first impressions of someone before giving them the opportunity to shine.

At the same time we need to make sure that we are following the same advice when looking at our own lives. We need to make sure that we are also focusing on our own inner beauty (of wisdom and good judgement) rather than our outward appearance. As we have seen when looking at others, there is not much point looking good on the outside if our words and actions that come from within are foolish.

This week don't give your bling to the pigs, instead focus on what really matters. Have a great week.

Header image by: adapted from image by bertconcepts