2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

This is an important teaching, but a difficult one. As Jesus said, we are in the world but not of it. (John 17:11, 14, 16) We interact daily with those who are not in Christ, and the question of how to do so is often a very pressing one. Some people choose the monastic route, withdrawing from the world as much as possible, but that is simply impractical, if not impossible, for most people. On top of that, if we cut off our interactions, how does evangelism happen? The key comes in “yoked.” This is most often applied to marriage, but it can equally apply to business partnerships and the like. Either way, it can make for some very hard choices. In Japan, the number of Christian young people is so low that insisting on a Christian spouse is limiting to say the very least. As a result, a large percentage of Christian young people marry non-Christians. Sometimes the result is that the spouse comes to genuine faith, and that is blessed indeed. However, that is far from being guaranteed. Then there is the matter of people coming to faith when they are already married. Both Paul (1 Corinthians 7:14-16) and Peter (1 Peter 3:1) deal with that situation. That said, I have seen some real tragedies of believers married to unbelievers. However, I have also seen some miracles in this area, of gangsters marrying Christian girls and, after years of living hell for the women, being transformed into ministers of the Gospel. This calls for submission to God first of all, listening carefully to Him rather than to our emotions or our flesh. We need to remember that His way is always best, whether it is the difficult path of waiting or the difficult path of living with an unbeliever. However, His grace is sufficient for us, (2 Corinthians 12:9) so we are able to do anything He directs us to do. (Philippians 4:13)

I was incredibly blessed to be given a spouse who is my partner in faith, as well as in every other way. At the time we got married, neither of us was very close to the Lord, but within a few years He brought first Cathy and then me into close fellowship with Him, and our relationship with each other continued to grow, as it does today. However, my children, both physical and spiritual, have not been as blessed in that area. One spiritual son has a very fine wife, but she is not yet a believer, though she isn’t actively against it. Like so many Japanese, she doesn’t understand the whole business of salvation and eternal life, and her need for it all. A spiritual daughter has already gone through one divorce, and her current “serious boyfriend” came to church for the first time ever just recently. Particularly given my own experience, my heart aches for them. I don’t know really how to pray for them, so I do most of it in tongues, letting the Holy Spirit give me the words that I don’t know. As I have said, I have seen miracles in this area, so I am not to be legalistic, but I am certainly to speak the truth in love, and trust God to sort it all out.

Father, thank You for this Word. I do pray for my children of all sorts, that Your very best for them would be manifested, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!