Common Ground

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

COMMON GROUND

2 Cor 6:14-16

14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."  

NIV

So often we see this truth being misunderstood or rather used only in a few contexts. The first context is regarding marriage. This would be used in the sense that a believer should not marry an unbeliever. Although there are and will always be marriages composted of one becoming a believer while the spouse remains an unbeliever and the scripture speaks to that issue elsewhere. The second context is regarding certain practices, which have for some, gone away, while others still hold to some. These are the rules like, no drinking, dancing, smoking, along with some others that seem to be generally left behind. Still, the point is that these believers are of the belief that keeping from these practices or behaviors is what keeps us from being yoked with unbelievers. However, the term yoked means to be a team, or partners pulling in the same direction. This term refers to the yoke that is used to pair up two oxen or other draft-type animals, so they are locked together and must pull in unison. It is commonly known the team is only as strong as the weaker oxen, for the stronger does not make the weak strong, but the weaker will always hold back the stronger. This is the lesson of life. We are not to partner with any unbeliever for they are the weaker and would keep back. Now, here is where the rub comes in. What type of partnerships can be engaged in with unbelievers? What common interests could there be? What agreements could we have with the world? The largest and yet unspoken about is in the world of finance. If we share our money with them for the sake of mutual profit, such as investments in their company, we would be partners with them and thus be yoked with unbelievers. We know this is a fine line and it would seem that is just the way of the life, and we all need to secure our retirement somehow, but that is the way the world thinks, and have we adopted that view? Even retirement is the modern view of the world. We have searched the scriptures to find retirement as a Godly principle and have come up short. Is that just another agreement we have made with the world? We think we need to take a good look at just what it means to partner with an unbeliever or to have anything in common with the world. Our thought processes, our beliefs, our practices, our way of life, anything that would look like we are pulling in the same direction are all things we need to assess. What do we have in common? What if any common ground do we have?