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Day 128 2 Corinthians 6:11 O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you; our heart is wide open. 12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. 13 Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open. 14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What communion has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be My people.” 17 Therefore, “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. 18 I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.” 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, corrupted no one, cheated no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn; for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. 4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation. Everything goes today. People don’t bother with marriage. They live together and when it suits them, they go their separate ways. When people marry, they don’t think about the consequences of who they marry. Marriage is a piece of paper making sex legitimate and divorce ugly. Love doesn’t factor into those marriages. It’s the lust of the flesh that matters. Paul told the Corinthian church to separate themselves from unbelievers, not to become yoked to them. They were not to live as the unbelievers around them. Paul told them when they accepted Jesus as their Savior, the Holy Spirit lived in them. They were His temple. Because they were the temple of the Holy Spirit, they were filled with light. Darkness cannot live in light. Paul told them what God promised them: That they would be His children. He would walk among them and be their God. With that promise before them, Paul told them to cleanse themselves from the filthiness of the world and live in the holiness and fear of God. Paul told them to open their hearts and realize they, Silvanus, and Timothy with him, didn’t wrong, corrupt, or cheat them. He told them that, not to condemn them but to show them that they were on their hearts, filled with comfort, ready to live, and die together with them. He told them they made him exceedingly joyful in their tribulations. As Christians, have you noticed that the world has encroached on the church. The same depravity found in the world has crept into the church. Christians don’t bother with marriage. They are okay with what their partners do or don’t do when it comes to their relationship to God. If they do marry, their marriage is unequally yoked. Satan loves that kind of marriage because it breaks down their relationship with God. He will do whatever it takes to separate Christians from their relationship with Christ Jesus. He always starts with the family. Adam and Eve were husband and wife when he tempted them with the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He will tell Christians it’s okay to do whatever they want, even forsaking marriage. Who will it hurt anyway? It will hurt the children who will see what their parents do and see their Christianity as a lie and turn away from the hope of salvation in their own lives. Only one thing can save your relationship with God, not to enter into a relationship with an unbeliever. If you are married to an unbeliever, does it mean you get a divorce and separate yourselves from them? Not necessarily. 1 Corinthians 7:10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11 But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. A husband is not to divorce his wife. 12 But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. 13 A woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise, your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15 But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace. 16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife? God always makes a way for you to live holy, separated lives to Him in all fear, reverence, to Him. Don’t let Satan win in your marriage. Cast him out and watch God work in your lives. When you pray for your spouse, God will work. When you pray for your children, God will work. Never underestimate the power of God in your marriage. Therefore, you can be joyful because you know that no matter what happens, God is in control. Let’s pray: Father, separate me in holiness to You, so that I can live only for You. Don’t let Satan steal my family from me. Let Your love fill me as Your Holy Spirit lives in me, dispelling the darkness of the world surrounding me. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Copyright © 21 November 2023 by Valerie Routhieaux The image belongs to me.