People of Light
Do Not Be Unequally Yoked – Part I
Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Key Verse: 2 Corinthians 6:14
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
Today’s Key Verse asks a very important question: “What fellowship can light have with darkness?”
This month of devotionals is about the People of Light. People of Light are all who have put their faith in Jesus. I have highlighted the joys and privileges of us who have trusted Jesus as our Savior. We have looked at the fact that Jesus called us to be “light and salt” to the people around us. As many have said, the People of God are the hope of the world.
I hope you thank God every morning for your Father in heaven drawing you to connect with Jesus His Son. What a glorious day that was when God wrote your name down in heaven’s Book of Life!
The challenge for all People of Light includes things that we must do in this world. And it also includes things that we must not do in this world.
Today we look at one of the things the Bible warns us not to do: to yoke ourselves to unbelievers.
What does the word “yoked” mean? Being “yoked” is an illustration that people in New Testament times could easily understand. When a farmer joined two oxen together by a wooden bar (the yoke), but one ox was weaker than the other, then the yoke would rub the necks of both oxen raw. The pair of oxen would not be able to complete their work because of the wounds that the rubbing yoke inflicted on them.
In spiritual terms, this means that when two people join themselves, they need to be equal in strength if they are going to be effective as a couple in this world.
Christ-followers are equal because our source of strength comes from Christ in us! We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! (Philippians 4:13).
However, if we are joining together with an unbeliever, then our strength is not the same.
The unbeliever might drag the believer down and cause them to be ineffective in a world that needs their light to shine! The words and behavior of an unbeliever might ruin the influence of the believer with whom they are yoked.
People of Light often use this yoke illustration when a believer is thinking of marrying an unbeliever. However, there are other ways we might be bound together with unbelievers. Tomorrow, we look at those other ways.
Father, I want to be effective for You in this world. Help me to be wise in my associations with unbelievers. In Jesus’s Name I pray, amen.