Daily Devotional for Friday April 12, 2002

Being Equally Yoked

(2 Corinthians 6:14)

After 9 years in the ministry, preaching in over 500 churches of every denomination, producing programming for the last 5 years for Christian television stations all over the country, I have personally prayed for and counseled hundreds of thousands of people. Through this, I have seen some of the great warnings in the Bible ignored, thus causing incredible personal suffering and destruction of lives. As believers, we are so quick to cling to God's promises in our hour of need as we should, but God also put many warnings in His word that we sometimes gloss over and ignore. One of those warnings is to not be unequally yoked with nonbelievers. Some have taken this passage to unreasonable lengths, but let me give you my interpretation of this scripture, and hopefully, help you avoid unnecessary heartache and pain in your life.

I believe this passage talks directly about those intimate relationships we have in life. So many email requests I get daily are from men and women who are married to unbelievers and going through so much turmoil. Let me say this up front. If you are married now to an unbeliever, this does not mean to get a divorce. You have already missed the warning and entered into a covenant relationship that God expects you to honor. God may be able to use you to bring that unsaved spouse to Christ. But if you are not married, getting married with an unbeliever is spiritual suicide. Love is fine, but what about what God says? If you need to see what a closed door looks like, this is one.

Now, if that person comes to Christ, it is whole different story. Dating? No problem. Again, you may be the Godly influence in their life, and God may be using you to touch that person's heart. But marriage? Unless you just want to roll right through God's roadblock, which you have the free will to do, it is just asking for trouble. As a note, I do believe there are two separate types of dating. One is just as friends, which if you are going out as friends with an unbeliever, I don't see anything wrong with that. However, most forms of dating is with the intention of getting married, and you could get emotionally involved. For this reason, be very cautious about who you decide to go out with, and you should only be dating someone who has accepted Christ as their Savior.

Outside of the marriage issue, I am not a literalist in regard to this verse of scripture. I do believe if you go into business with someone, they should be of like faith. The people you do business with in the course of the day, though, will be difficult to limit to just people of faith, although some do and that is fine. Where you shop, where you recreate, the products you use, I personally feel that to try and fit that in this scripture is taking it to an interpretation that is not meant in its context.

I love you and care about you. I want to pray for you today to really pray about your relationships in life, and keep this warning from God in your mind. God is in the blessing business. Sometimes though, it requires some patience on your part. He won't let you down, and His timing is ALWAYS perfect. My prayer is that you take notice of this warning, have the strength to listen to the Lord, and give God a chance to work in your life His way, in his timing. Trust me, if you do, you will avoid so much pain, and be so blessed because when you live God's way, it is better than anything you ever hoped or dreamed of.