Shake Off the Dust
“And if a village won’t welcome you or listen to you, shake off its dust from your feet as you leave. It is a sign that you have abandoned that village to its fate. So the disciples went out telling all they met to turn from their sins. And they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil” – Mark 6:11-13 (NLT).
There comes a time for it, though we all wish it wouldn’t. It hurts and we pray that we’re doing the right thing even though deep down we know we are.
What is it? Shaking the dust off our feet and moving on.
There comes a time for that. It is regrettable. It is painful. It is unpleasant. But it is necessary. In fact, it is so necessary that Jesus even COMMANDS it when he sends his disciples out to share the good news of the kingdom with the surrounding villages. It was part of his marching orders and cannot be ignored.
He told them, “If a village won’t welcome you or listen to you, shake off its dust from your feet as you leave.”
Sometimes people won’t listen. No amount of reasoning or logic will convince them. No amount of prayer moves them. No amount of attention shown to them or energy exerted in their behalf will bring them on board with God’s vision for their life.
A good, but hard-hearted friend or acquaintance; a leader or leadership that simply doesn’t get it and doesn’t want to; a child or grandchild that closes his or her ears; a coworker or fellow student that is perpetually disinterested in what God desires for them - - in all of these situations and more there comes a time to shake the dust off our feet and move on.
This does not mean we stop loving them. It does not mean that we won’t pray for them when the Holy Spirit moves our heart to do so or receive them quickly and willingly should they respond later. But, as with Jesus’ disciples, it does mean that we stop focusing our major energies and efforts on them and move on.
It is part of the evangelism and ministry picture. It has to be or we will burn out. Some people will burn us out by their constant demands for attention even though they have no intention of ever changing, accepting Christ, or getting on board with a Biblical vision or direction for their life.
They will sap every last ounce of energy we have if we let them and prevent us from being effectively used by God elsewhere.
So Jesus commands: MOVE ON. There comes a time for that. You must trust God and abandon this person or group of people to their fate.
There simply is no time to waste treading water or digging our wheels into a rut with no measurable results from our efforts in Christ’s behalf. So we must move on. Sometimes it is the only righteous thing to do. It may even lead those upon which we have expended so much energy to reflect and change.
Is God placing a burning conviction in your heart to move on to other harvest fields? Is he directing you to expend your energies for him in new, possibly more receptive arenas? If so, with humility and sadness for the necessity of it, shake the dust off your feet and move on.
It’s the right thing - - the only thing to do, lest others perish.