Unequally Yoked-More On the Temple

"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

I just can't get away from this passage.

For years, I understood this verse to be a reference to marriage. Believers shouldn't marry unbelievers. And I still think that is true. But over the years, I have come to understand that it means so much more. Obviously, dating would be the next application. As the parents of two teen daughters, this has been a point of discussion in our home. (I won't elaborate more because I am sure the issue of dating will garner its own post, or series of posts.)

More recently, however, the concept of being "unequally yoked" has taken on even more facets for me. Friendships, for instance, come to mind. Tweenagers and teenagers are relational creatures. And those relationships are most often with their peers. They are influenced tremendously by their friends. Therefore, it is vitally important to consider who is influencing them. The counter to this idea is that our children, as Christians, should be "salt and light". True. They should be. But we need to teach them, train them, to differentiate between "close friends" and acquaintances". They need to be "equally yoked" in their friendships. They need to be sure (we, as parents, need to be sure) that the friends who are influencing them, in whom they are investing emotionally, are friends who share their values, beliefs, and faith.

There is another area this "unequally yoked" idea can be applied. This one has come to me in the last couple of years, and is the one I have been thinking about recently. It may be a stretch, but I think it is valid. I believe that we can be unequally yoked in the activities we, or our children, invest in. "Invest" is the key word. Obviously, there are many activities that are not expressly Christian. We do live IN the world. How do you determine, then, if they are unequally yoked in a particular activity? Obviously, there is not always a clear cut answer. But there are some questions we can ask:

-Can my child do this activity "to the glory of God"?

-How emotionally invested is he/she in this activity?

-How much time/money/energy is invested in this activity?

-Is this activity influencing my child's worldview? and Does this activity conflict with our family's worldview? *This question is vital. I think any activity that is in contrast to a Christian worldview is putting a child on dangerous ground.

-Can my child maintain his/her witness while being affiliated with this activity?

There are other questions to consider. I don't pretend to think this is an easy thing to do. Our family has had to deal with these questions and make hard choices. But we are always looking at the long term goal. And the older my children become, the more aware I am that the long term goal is more than worth the hard work. Because, again, this is the Temple we are talking about.