Have you ever purchased tires? 2 Corinthians 6:14-16.

Posted bySteven WalesPosted inMarriage, Peer Pressure, Unequally YokedTags:, ,

When you buy tires, the most essential detail is that the new tires match the old, remaining tires. What would happen if the tires on one side were a little bigger than the tires on the other side? Or what if they were made differently, one made hollow and filled with air, the other a hard ring of solid plastic (like the “donut” spares in some cars)?

You are different from the people around you. If you have surrendered to Christ, you are a whole new kind of person, as different from your old self as a caterpillar is from a butterfly.

Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone be in Christ, he is a NEW creature. Old things are passed away. All things have become new.”

Your life is new. You are a new creature.

Back to the tire analogy: do you match? Are your friends made of the same stuff? Your closest, best friends? Your business partners?

In the next chapter, 2 Corinthians 6:14-16, Paul goes on:

do not be unequally yoked, do not be bound together with unbelievers, for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness or light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with the devil, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols?

This passage is about marriage. Marriage between two believers trying to please Christ is hard. Can you imagine how being married to an unbeliever is so much harder? But Paul’s warning applies to other things too—be careful who you partner with in life, in business, on group projects (my favorite), who you hire as an attorney or agent, or whatever.

We should always be involved with the lost and love the lost. But be aware that if you share a yoke, like two mules pulling a wagon, that partner walking next to you needs to also share your faith. A butterfly and a caterpillar cannot work together.

You are a NEW creation. Choose best friends and partners and spouses who are also new creations in Christ.

Jesus, help us to love the lost, to know them, share with them, and point them to you. But for our deepest connections, our most critical, life-long partnerships, especially marriage, guide us to fellow believers who will share our faith and understand and encourage us in our desire to please you.

ΑΩ

Published by Steven Wales

Dad's Daily Devotional began as text messages to my family. I wanted my teenagers to know their father was reading the Bible. But they were at school by then. Initially, I sent them a favorite verse or an insight based on what I read each day. That grew into drafting a devotional readng which I would send them via text. I work as an attorney and an adjunct professor, and recently wrote a book called HOW TO MAKE A'S.

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