Yoked!
don’t you just love it when verses are taken out of context?
me too….not.
it’s been a while since i’ve blogged about scripture.
mainly because the deeper i dive the more i realize i actually don’t know;
but i was in a conversation with a friend the other day about dating and it came up, so i shared my point of view. feel free to disagree.
take everything with a grain of salt. but this makes sense to me in this way.
at least today it does.
“do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? or what fellowship has light with darkness?” 2 Corinthians 6:14
i can only speak on what i’ve heard, and i’ve heard plenty of people misuse this verse. i’ve heard it as an excuse to not hang out with nonbelievers.
which we know can’t be true, because the majority of Jesus’ ministry was him hanging out with the worst of sinners. mostly, i’ve heard this verse used as a reason to not date or marry a nonbeliever.
which makes sense, until you realize that Paul (who wrote the letters to the Corinthians) doesn’t mention dating or marriage at all in this chapter.
have you read it?
context is needed in order to understand any scripture.
you can interpret any scripture by itself one way and then once its place in context, it could and usually does mean something completely different.
if you read the whole chapter, or the whole letter to the Corinthians…
you’d know that Paul isn’t talking about marriage or dating relationships,
rather he’s talking about our new life in Christ.
if you back up to chapter 5, you’ll see that chapter 6 is just a continuation of what he was talking about in chapter 5, and chapter 5 is a continuation of chapter 4…and so on.
beeeteeedubbbsss….the bible wasn’t written in chapters and verses…
2 Corinthians is actually an entire letter from beginning to end. its meaning must be gathered by ingesting the whole thing. for sake of time, let’s back up to his latest thesis statement:
“therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. the old has passed away;
behold, the new has come.”
2 Corinthians 5:17
Paul states now that we as believers are new creations, we should act like it and not take God’s grace for granted.
“working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.”
2 Corinthians 6:1
from here, Paul talks about how they as servants of God have been commended in every way and begins to list all of the things they have endured in their journey of faith.
then we finally arrive at the lead into verse 14.
Paul states the Corinthians have been “restricted in their own afflictions” and since they have been restricted, he will speak to them as if they are children.
(sorry for the long explanation)
then here comes verse 14.
y’all know how yokes work right?
and no, i’m not talking about the basketball game you played in high school.
a yoke is a farming tool used to harness two oxen together as they plow fields so seeds can be planted. if the oxen were both of the same size and strength, plowing the field was easy. if one was larger or stronger than the other, getting them both to go at the same pace or even in the same direction proved difficult.
it’d be like trying to drive your car in a straight line if you had bicycle tires on one side and monster truck tires on the other. alignment of strength, speed and endurance is important for the task at hand. you get the point.
put a pin there.
some context around who Paul is talking to:
the greek city of Corinth was overtaken by the Roman Empire a few decades before Jesus hit the scene, so by the time Paul arrives and then sends these letter years later, Corinth has become a mecca of trade, language and polytheism.
polytheism is just a modern fancy word for religions who believe in multiple gods. remember zeus and his greek god friends? this is the time we are in.
so Paul is not talking to a city of people who have already converted to follow Jesus. he is talking to a missionary church he helped plant who is in the middle of sexually charged city that practices brutality and child sacrifice.
the task at hand was not easy.
people have been beaten and killed for the sake of the gospel, hence why Paul lists the things they’ve gone through to remind everyone in the church of their newfound life in Christ.
so you see, the task at hand required much strength, faith and endurance.
it would take sacrifice and team work.
do you see why it would be important to align…or yoke… yourself with people who are of the same heart and soul as you?
and here lies Paul’s point:
in order to go fast, go alone.
but if you want to go far, go together.
the cause can only be achieved if they do it together.
what’s this cause? reaching the city. how? by bringing holiness to completion.
“with promises like this to pull us on, dear friends, let’s make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts us, both within and without. let’s make our entire lives fit and holy temples for the worship of God.”
2 Corinthians 7:1
now….(***breathes for the first time***that was a lot of info)
how do we apply this?
aligning yourself with the right people is everything.
we all had friends in life who let us down or weren’t there when we needed them most. we have those friends we say we “parted ways” with, or the ones we “grew out of” when really, we no longer aligned with their values and beliefs.
values are so important in relationships.
they keep us strong.
they help us grounded when we have nothing to lean on.
(more on friends in another post)
so what in the world does this have to do with dating and marriage?
lemme break it down for you.
your life has a mission. you have dreams. you have a calling.
whether you realize it or not, God has created you for a purpose.
part of that purpose is the pursuit of holiness.
just so you know, you can’t be holy on your own, you need Jesus.
Jesus is the key to everything.
but he also puts people in your life to help you along the way.
your parents.
your best friends.
and yes, your spouse.
i heard it said by some very wise people:
“your spouse’s job isn’t to make you happy, it’s to help make you holy.”
if there is anyone in the world you’ll be yoked with, it’s your spouse.
the words i do align you to carry the weight of every burden from now until forever.
the pressures of life.
the weight of debt.
the burden of raising your children.
and yes, the in-laws.
it’s important that your partner is just that…a partner,
but more so, someone who is soul-tied with you;
under the same mission, under the same grace. someone you can trust fully.
someone who is honest with you.
someone who helps carry you when you can no longer stand.
date whoever you want. marry whoever you want.
i can’t convince you otherwise.
but what i can say is that being a christian doesn’t mean you’ll be equally yoked with another christian.
just saying you believe in Jesus doesn’t mean that you’ll be a good match.
there’s more to it than pretty faces and shining charisma.
you have to be willing to go to battle together.
for their dreams. for your passions.
for each day to make it better than the last.
why??
because your mission matters. your calling matters.
the thing that God has for you is always bigger than what you can reach on your own.
we need each other.
you need friends who are willing to shoulder the weight and not take you off into the wrong direction. you want a spouse who is already plowing the same field you are. you want a community surrounding you with support while you provide support in return.
we are all better together.
so have fun. meet people. make friends. go on dates.
but please please…don’t say “they don’t come to church yet, but they will…”
maybe they will. i hope they will. and they will.
but not because you dated them.
boom.
-gb
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