Thursday, June 21, 2012

Dating, Marriage, Partnership, and the Egg on your face

2 Corinthians 6:14-18

14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst,
and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you,
and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”


Do yo hear that my children?  Do not marry someone who worships anyone other than Jesus.  Marriage is the biggest and most profound commitment a person makes next to their devotion to their god.  If you worship Jesus and marry someone who does not, you are creating unnecessary controversy and dissonance in your life. 

Additionally, Paul explain in Eph. 5 that marriage is like Christ and the church.  Marriage is a metaphor for Gospel.  The Gospel is Good News.  It probably goes without saying, but just in case you missed it:

Marrying someone who hates Jesus is BAD news.

We are the temple of the living God.  He lives in us now by His Spirit.  Do not allow those who hate Jesus to enter His temple.  All who worship anything other than Jesus demonstrate they hate Him (who He is, what He did, and who He will ever be).  They despire His atoning death and glorious victory over death.  Even some who say the word Jesus with charm deny Him by their very lives.  They claim to know God, but live in a way that is contrary to this reality.

The answer to Paul's question is obvious.  The only relationship darkness and light have is one of opposites.  When it is light there is no darkness.  When it's dark, it's because there is no light.  Black is not white and white is not black.  The only relationship they have is their being defined by the absence of the other.  Do not yoke your heart to someone who is defined by their absence of what you hold most glorious.

1 comment:

  1. just from practical, subjective experience, i have no idea what we would talk about if we didn't both love jesus. and i can pretty confidently say we would fight A. LOT. over stuff we bond over now. not that those are reasons in and of themselves to obey the command to not be yoked to unbelievers, but it is a benefit of obedience.

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