Matthew 10:14 says “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.”
In the context of this verse, Jesus sent his disciples to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Jesus instructed the disciples on the do’s and don’ts of witnessing. When we get to verse 14, Jesus uses the term “shake off the dust of your feet.” The idea of this verse is when people reject the message, do not get discouraged or quit, shake off the dust and keep going.
Our church has a weekly time of door to door witnessing (similar to the disciples in Matthew 10). Verse 14 is a good verse of encouragement for us in 2022. Just last week, my wife and I had the great opportunity to witness to a teenage boy. He was kind and open to hearing the Gospel. I opened the Bible and began to share verses about Jesus and salvation. It is not very common these days that strangers would allow us to go through the Gospel with them. Just about two minutes into it, a black truck rolled up next to this house. Two men in the truck rolled down their windows and began to mock us. As I was attempting to continue, there were words of vulgarity, blasphemy, and inappropriate comments. I tried my best to keep going, but to be honest, it was not easy. I gave a distracted message and a Gospel tract. When all this ended, and the dust cleared, I asked myself, what just happened? It was not easy for me, my wife, or the young man. I would understand an experience like that would discourage a Christian from continuing to knock on doors. The best help for situations like that would be God’s Word. Jesus tells the disciples, “whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.” I was definitely not received well by those men in the truck. However, there is some good news. That interested teenager still has a Gospel tract in his possession. Prayerfully, God will use that experience to convert a lost soul. My take away from this verbal resistance is to “shake off the dust” and keep going. We can all learn from Jesus…never quit. (By Matt Shold)
