Do Not Be Unequally Yoked

Do Not Be Unequally Yoked

I know many of you are waiting and looking for your Boaz. It seems at times that things just are not moving fast enough. It’s a natural tendency to want to try to ‘help’ God find that special someone.

When you get to this point in your mindset, the mind can play all kinds of tricks on you. You began to see illusions of the perfect mate where perfection does not exist. You start to overlook obvious warning signs and focus on any and every seemingly good quality in that person.

God says “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”

2 Corinthians 6:14  

It is a clear instruction from the Word of God that in choosing a mate, to make sure they are a believer also. Why? Again, God points to ‘commonality’.

Things in common, unite. Differences tend to divide. Let’s exam this is the spiritual context in which it is written.

Say you disregard God’s command and date/marry an unbeliever. You are happy for a while until the differences start to become bigger issues. You want to attend church, he does not. You try to overlook this, but it makes you feel alone or less than united. The same occurs when you find yourself worshipping alone, praying alone and studying scripture alone.

When problems arise and decisions must be made, you consult God and His Word for guidance, while your make decides the best way is ‘his’ way; and we know where our choices lead.

What about tithing and giving? You want to honor God, but he sees it as a waste of money and refuses. He’d rather hang out with the guys and drink rather than be the spiritual leader of the home. When it comes to ethics and morality, he makes his own rules and you are left to deal with the consequences.

The list goes on and on and makes for a difficult relationship.

The same examples can be applied to many other areas in incompatibility. If you are unequally yoked in education; it will not be too long before the educated half grows tired of their less than educated partner and grows apart. Same can be said in instances of careers. Moral, political and/or sexual standards can also be added to the list. All this differences can have a snowball effect with devastating results.

God is trying to protect you from all this. He is not saying that those who do not have these things in common with you are less than you or are bad people. He is saying that you ‘two’ are not ready to build a relationship on.

Jesus said it far better than I ever could in Matthew 7:24

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

God wants you to build a strong foundation! There is no greater foundation built which is Jesus Christ! You have begun to build upon this foundation by accepting Him as your Lord and Savior. What builder starts with a strong foundation, only to build a weak structure?

Strength begets strength. Start strong and finish strong! Build upon your rock and do not settle for less than the finest and most compatible materials God has to give you to build your life.

Lastly, understand what a ‘yoke’ is. A yoke is a harness that is placed on two oxen to make them plow in unity. If the yoke is uneven, the oxen do not move as one and the job will be difficult, if not disastrous. Oxen equally yoked move in sync; the same direction.

This is what God wants for you as you “Wait On Your Boaz”. He wants a mate that will move in the same direction with unity as you. The top priority is spiritual unity, but do not neglect unity is the purpose of your life together, income level, education, family upbringing, sexual relations, money management, entertainment and life goals.

You have a great foundation; build upon it correctly!

God Bless.