Unequally Yoked
Judges 3:5-7 NIV
The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.
The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.
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Let's talk a bit more about this concept of not being friends with non-believers. because it can become a sticking point with so many people.
We've already seen what happened to the Israelites when they ignored God's warnings and brought the pagan women into their homes to marry their sons. the people of Israel turned away from the one true God and began worshipping the Baals and Asherahs.
Hard to imagine, isn't it? After all, once a person has known Jesus, how could he ever turn his back on the Lord in favor of another god? Sadly, it happens all the time. We're not talking about "gods" like little stone or brass idols - gods made by the hands of the people who worship them. We're talking about values that are instilled in us by God Almighty when we're walking with Him, and how easy it is for a person to turn his back on those values in favor of something that is much closer. more enticing. more stimulating and interesting to that carnal side of our flesh. Gods like that abound in today's world. possessions, money, power, relationships. all of these can become our "gods" if we're not careful. Even television can become a "god" of sorts if it takes precedence over our prayer time or our quiet time with the Lord. In Exodus 20:3 (NIV), God said, "You shall have no other gods before me." But there is not one person who has not broken this commandment at one time or another by allowing someone or something else to get between him and God Almighty. And in a large number of those situations, the catalyst that moves the person away from God is a close friendship with someone who is a non-believer.
Do you want to avoid breaking that first of the Ten Commandments? Do you want to keep your life on track with the Lord, walking within His will at all times and allowing Him to shower you with His blessings and cover you with His protection? Then follow Paul's admonition in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 (NIV):
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
"Therefore come out from them
and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you."
"I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
Don't stop witnessing to the lost! But stay equally yoked with other believers when it comes to your close relationships.
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