Matthew 10:14 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.

To obtain a complete understand of what the Lord is telling us about witnessing Christ to the lost, we need to compare the shaking off of dust from our feet with His example of washing the feet of the disciples.

One of the aspects of washing of the feet is forgiveness of sins. This is a cleansing process. Forgiveness is a cleansing process. Here in Matthew He instructs us to shake off the dust. This is not a cleansing, it is not a matter of forgiveness. A shaking off is also indicative that it is superficial, not caked on, not filth.

But it is still dust, dirt, and the results of touching uncleanness. So it still represents sin, but not our sin. When you witness to the lost and they do not receive the word of salvation those words fall to the ground and the dust that is kicked up, the sin, is a result of their rejected the Word, rejecting Jesus. This is not your sin, it is theirs.

The reason Jesus said to shake it off is to tell us not to take it personally. Do not take it upon yourself. We spend time and energy witnessing and when they reject Jesus we may mourn for them. To mourn is fine, but to feel rejected is not.

Luke 6:22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.

For His sake, don’t take it personally. Shake it off.

Romans 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

Witnessing to a good person is difficult. They have a right moral sense and do that which is good and right. They are charitable, kind and law abiding. They are thought good of by all their neighbors. It is difficult to make them understand their souls are lost, their conscience is clean.

What if I were to tell them this isn’t about sin? Jesus came to save us from our sins, so what could I possibly tell them that might clarify God’s position on their “goodness”?

Psalm 108:5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;

A man who glories in his own abilities has stolen God’s glory. Glory is the reputation, good name, and essence of who God is in this world. The first commandment is that there is but one God and we shall not have another god before him. Being perfect in your own strength is setting yourself up as god.

There will be some who do not have a problem with that but putting that thought before them might be a starting point for them when things start going wrong. Man doesn’t think about God until things start going wrong. Their goodness has been a source of pride and we know that God resists the proud.

For those of you who want to say that your salvation is based on your own actions, let me point out this about law abiding.

Ephesians 2:7-9 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

We are saved by grace which comes by faith in Jesus Christ and not by our goodness.