Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 2 Corinthians 6:14.
Do not be deceived! You cannot change that person, you cannot convict that person. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict people, and if a person is ignoring the Holy Spirit, do you think you can really change them? If a person is not obeying the Holy God, can they obey you?
God says, do not be unequally yoked; He warns us against being yoked with unbelievers, He knows best and He knows what He is saying.
God knows the consequences that follow, He knows that light and darkness cannot fellowship together. An unbeliever is more likely to pull you down. You will be trying to bring them to Christ but they will be antagonizing you, they will be introducing you to the ways of the world slowly, bit by bit they will be telling you to compromise.
As believers in God, as people who have a relationship with God, we cannot afford to be tied together with unbelievers. Do not be unequally yoked with people who have no regard for God. This does not mean we avoid other people, it means we do not make commitments to people who might end up causing us to fall. We can minister, we can love, we are to do good to all people. But that does not mean we become entangled with them, or start saying what they say, or start doing what they do. It means establishing firm boundaries with love.
With time we come to realize ungodly people have ungodly desires, ungodly people have no regard to God’s Law, ungodly people are more likely to pull you down when you entangle your life with theirs.
Some will tell you to compromise your values in order to please their worldly desires or fit in to their lives, some will mock you when you mention the Word of God, some will abuse you and tell you that you do not know what you are saying, some will call what you tell them ‘crap’, some will coerce you into ungodly submission – they will tell you that what you do or say is not what other people normally do or say, they will tell you that that is not how things are done, they will tell you to adjust according to their expectations or other people’s expectations, some will go as far as calling you an embarrassment because you did not meet their expectations.
Do not be unequally yoked. We cannot afford to be yoked together with people who are hostile towards the truth of God’s Word.
In life we meet people who put on a show for a season in order to impress you but with time their masks fall off. We meet people who mention the name of God for a season and even accompany you to church as a way of luring you but when that knot is tied, hell falls on your life. We meet people who put on effort at the beginning of any kind of relationship including friendships but with time they dwindle off. We meet people who play the part but in their hearts they are after something else. We meet people who smile to us outwardly but inside they are plotting ways to harm us, inside they are plotting on ways to fulfill their evil desires, inside they are plotting on ways to achieve their selfish agendas.
You shall know them by their fruits! Many times we rush through relationships with people yet never take time to really know them.
We get easily impressed by smooth words, we get easily enticed by their looks, we get easily enticed by money, fame, and power, we get easily enticed with false promises. We do not take time to discern people’s spirits, we do not take time to know people’s souls, we just look on the external aspects of a person.
We forget that the real person is the soul and spirit. An evil spirit and hell-bound soul can be dressed perfectly externally. We really do not know a person just by looking on the outside. Looks are deceiving, money, power, and fame are deceiving, words spoken can be deceiving, people’s dressing style can be deceiving; anything external can be deceiving. Look at the person’s fruit.
Do they have the fruit of the Spirit or of the carnal nature? Ask the Holy Spirit to give you discernment, ask Him to help you discern the spirits, ask God to help you see people as He sees them. Judge people’s character; not in unrighteous judgement but in a way that helps you make wise decisions. Not everyone is meant to be in our lives, we are not supposed to open our lives to anyone and everyone.
We can love others as God instructs us to love but at the same time guard our hearts.
Some people come into your life and leave you in ruins; they will come and take advantage of you, they will use and misuse you, they will abuse you, and then when they have done all the harm humanly possible, they walk away. We cannot afford to leave the doors of our lives open, the enemy is out there looking for souls to devour. Not everyone is good-willed, not everyone wants what is good for you, not everyone is your friend, not everyone who mentions the Word of God is a believer, not everyone who goes to church is submitted to God. May God help us.
Look at their fruits, take your time, rest in God and be content in Him so that you do not rush through relationships and friendships out of fear or loneliness. A tree is known by its fruit. You will know them when you spend time with God and allow Him to reveal to you the heart of the other person.
Now, the effects of the corrupt nature are obvious; illicit sex, perversion, promiscuity, idolatry, drug use, hatred, rivalry, angry outbursts, selfish ambition, conflict, factions, envy, drunkenness, wild partying, and similar things. I’ve told you in the past and I’m telling you again that people who do these kind of things will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21.
The surprising thing is, we see the carnal fruit but still ignore it, we lie to ourselves that they will change, that if we love them enough they will change for us, that if we are there for them then they will see the truth and turn to God. We end up staying and yoking ourselves with people with carnal fruit out of fear, or we say we have invested so much time with them and therefore we do not want to waste the invested time, or we stay because we are afraid of starting over, we compromise because we do not want to be alone. We live in fear instead of walking by faith.
We cannot change people, we cannot save people. Only Jesus saves. Do not be unequally yoked with a person who has rejected Christ. We are never to yoke ourselves with somebody the Word of God has clearly warned us against. If we do, then we have no one to blame but ourselves; we reap what we sow.
God knows best and He warns us in order to protect us, He sees far ahead than what our limited minds can conceive.
At its worst, an unequal yoke can leave us spiritually dead and cost us our life. We need to sober up! We need to know what we are fighting against. We cannot open up our lives to the enemy and expect him to magically turn into our friend. The enemy is an enemy, it is as simple as that. The enemy will try to deceive you that there is no harm in being with someone you are unequally yoked with, but what he never tells you is the cost that you will incur, and neither does he tell you that he is a deceiver.
God’s Word is truth, it is our standard. If anything goes against God’s Word it is not from Him.
If anything or anyone comes into your life and then you start having inner turmoil and lacking peace, stop, take your concerns at the altar of God and ask Him to guide you. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth. When a person spends time with God, with time the fruit of the Spirit starts maturing and manifesting in them, they acquire a Christ-likeness that is unmistakable.
But the spiritual nature produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There are no laws against things like that. Galatians 5:22-23.
Never settle for who God has said no to, never settle for second best. God wants to give you His best. God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time. May we learn to wait on God in every area of our lives.
Blessings.
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