Acts 19:8-10. Back in Ephesus, Paul goes to the synagogue for three months "arguing and pleading about the kingdom of God," but some are stubborn and disbelieving. These unbelievers begin to speak evil of the Way before the congregation, so Paul withdraws from the synagogue, taking the disciples with him, and begins arguing daily in the hall of Tyrannus. He does this for two years, by the end of which "all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks."

This hits on my struggle with when to "shake the dust" and move on. Jesus told his disciples to shake the dust from their feet in any town where they did not accept His Word, but when are we sure that people are not accepting it? How long do we stay and try to convince them? How much do we suffer for His sake before we move on? For Paul in Ephesus it was when they began speaking evil of the Way in the synagogue. That makes sense - if our efforts of evangelization are actually causing people to malign Christ publicly, we are making matters worse and causing harm if we continue.

For me, the deciding factor has been when I am caused real emotional pain that affects my life and duties in a negative way - the inability to sleep or simply function in my daily life. I know that God does not want me to feel that way. He has a mission for me and I cannot carry it out if I am unable to function, so if people are causing me that kind of pain, I must withdraw myself from them and move on.

This is helpful to me even today, as I ran into a little bit of this yesterday and was thinking of withdrawing from something. What I felt yesterday was not all that painful, it was actually more annoyance and surprise at others' inability to give me the benefit of the doubt or to try to understand me, and their unwillingness to talk to me about it. I am certainly not losing sleep or unable to function, so I guess it is not yet time to move on from those things yet!