Friday, December 2, 2011
II Corinthians 6:14
Friday, December 02, 2011 |
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
Our key verse for today's devotional reading is a strong exhortation from the Apostle Paul about how we must live in the last days. The directive to be "not unequally yoked together with unbelievers" is not the trend in Christian circles today.
Please don't misunderstand my thoughts. I am not saying we don't have a relationship with lost people, unbelievers, so that we can lead them to the Lord but this exhortation is about "being yoked" to unbelievers, not relationships.
To be "yoked" is like being "harnessed together in a team" of horses or some animals of burden. We must not "yoke" ourselves to unbelievers in marriage, ministry and mission.
It goes without saying that we must develop relationships with unbelievers, lost people, so that we might have an opportunity to lead them to Christ. In fact, Paul, in the first of this chapter, reports that he was doing all he could to give none offense in anything so that his ministry might not be blamed.
Everything we do should be for the purpose of "approving ourselves as the ministers of God", verse 4. Verses 4-10 contain illustration after illustration of how Paul was abiding in the lifestyle that he was exhorting the Corinthians to live.
This is very applicable for us as well today. Reading of what Paul had lived through helps us to understand why the Apostle told us to not be unequally yoked together.
In verse 16 Paul refers to the Temple, the place where the "Glory of the Lord" dwelled in days past; and prophetically, where the Lord will dwell among His people forever.
Paul's application was that we are the "Temple of the living God"; therefore, we must "come out from among them and be separate", verse 17. Remember, at this time in history there was still a Temple in Jerusalem as Paul tells us we are now the "dwelling place" for the Lord, I Corinthians 6:19-20.
Please don't forget, there will be a physical Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem one day. But until then the Lord abides in us, the reason for Paul's example and exhortation to us.
Peter wrote that the Lord was not slack concerning His promise to come back to earth, and that He was not willing that any should perish, He wanted all to come to the knowledge of the truth and come to know Him as Saviour, II Peter 3:9.
If we couple that thought from Peter, with Paul's statement in verse 2, of our extended reading today, we see how we can hurry the return of Jesus to the earth. Paul says, "now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation."
II Peter 3:12 tells us that winning people to Jesus in this "day of salvation" can hasten the Lord's return.
PRAYER THOT: Help me Lord to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, to make it a point to come out from among those that cause offense so that I can win the lost to You in this, the "day of salvation".
For further study - II Corinthians 6:1-18
Our key verse for today's devotional reading is a strong exhortation from the Apostle Paul about how we must live in the last days. The directive to be "not unequally yoked together with unbelievers" is not the trend in Christian circles today.
Please don't misunderstand my thoughts. I am not saying we don't have a relationship with lost people, unbelievers, so that we can lead them to the Lord but this exhortation is about "being yoked" to unbelievers, not relationships.
To be "yoked" is like being "harnessed together in a team" of horses or some animals of burden. We must not "yoke" ourselves to unbelievers in marriage, ministry and mission.
It goes without saying that we must develop relationships with unbelievers, lost people, so that we might have an opportunity to lead them to Christ. In fact, Paul, in the first of this chapter, reports that he was doing all he could to give none offense in anything so that his ministry might not be blamed.
Everything we do should be for the purpose of "approving ourselves as the ministers of God", verse 4. Verses 4-10 contain illustration after illustration of how Paul was abiding in the lifestyle that he was exhorting the Corinthians to live.
This is very applicable for us as well today. Reading of what Paul had lived through helps us to understand why the Apostle told us to not be unequally yoked together.
In verse 16 Paul refers to the Temple, the place where the "Glory of the Lord" dwelled in days past; and prophetically, where the Lord will dwell among His people forever.
Paul's application was that we are the "Temple of the living God"; therefore, we must "come out from among them and be separate", verse 17. Remember, at this time in history there was still a Temple in Jerusalem as Paul tells us we are now the "dwelling place" for the Lord, I Corinthians 6:19-20.
Please don't forget, there will be a physical Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem one day. But until then the Lord abides in us, the reason for Paul's example and exhortation to us.
Peter wrote that the Lord was not slack concerning His promise to come back to earth, and that He was not willing that any should perish, He wanted all to come to the knowledge of the truth and come to know Him as Saviour, II Peter 3:9.
If we couple that thought from Peter, with Paul's statement in verse 2, of our extended reading today, we see how we can hurry the return of Jesus to the earth. Paul says, "now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation."
II Peter 3:12 tells us that winning people to Jesus in this "day of salvation" can hasten the Lord's return.
PRAYER THOT: Help me Lord to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, to make it a point to come out from among those that cause offense so that I can win the lost to You in this, the "day of salvation".