pramsay posted on January 17, 2008 03:48
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Don't Get Tied Up With a Non-Christian
Those three legged races at family reunions! Did you ever get hitched up with someone much slower or much faster than you? “On your mark! Get set! Go!” About three meters into the race you fall down. Now you both are twisting and turning, trying to get loose from the rope around your legs. Forget the race. You’ve lost it by a long shot. Embarrassed, you try to explain what went wrong. Then you declare: “If I ever agree to a race like that again, I’ll make sure my partner is an equal match!!”
Did you know there is a commandment in the Word of God that forbids a Christian from being tied up with a non-christian? It cuts you no slack. There’s nothing grey about it. Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth and said:
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers…”
and just in case the reason wasn’t obvious to them, he went on to explain:
“…for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
And what communion hath light with darkness.”
2 Corinthians 6:14
The Amplified Version explains it this way: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, do not make mismated alliances with them or come under a different yoke with them, inconsistent with your faith. For what partnership have right living and right standing with God with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light have fellowship with darkness?”
It is stronger than just being mismatched. It goes further than that. It is referring to a union between two things of a different kind. This verse is not referring to two Christians who have doctrinal or spiritual differences. No, this verse talks about a union between two things that are direct opposites like light and darkness. A Christian and a non-believer. A saint and a sinner.
It’s always wrong and never right for a Christian to marry someone who is not a Christian. There is no way it can be rationalized or legitimized. It is a direct violation of the Word of God. So if you have your eye on someone who is not saved – it is dead wrong for you to make any moves towards romantic involvement. You can never expect God to honor or bless such a relationship, when He is strongly opposed to it.
And there is no Scriptural approval of missionary dating either – dating someone hoping to see them won to Christ. The flirt-to-convert scheme is dead wrong. God in His matchless grace may save them but that will never justify your wrong action of dating them nor will it ever let you off the hook for going against the Word of God. We reap what we sow. There are consequences for our actions, even if we confess our sin. The consequences may not always be obvious or immediate but we can’t escape them.
Besides the fact that it’s an offensive sin against God and dangerous, wouldn’t it be sad to live with someone for the rest of your life and be out of sync at the deepest level of your being? You love Christ and your partner has no love for Christ. Alive in Christ and dead in sins. You try to share something of what Christ means to you and her eyes glaze over or she starts clipping her fingernails in sheer boredom. Imagine bringing a child into the world and raising them in such a conflicted, confusing and contradicting environment.
As a believer you are Scripturally forbidden to marry a non-Christian. If you’re heading into such a relationship this Bible Bite is intended for you. As hard as the decision might be, slam on the brakes and get out of it – even if rings are purchased and plans are made. Honor the Lord. Do the right thing even if it hurts and even if the tears flow.