2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Do Not Be Yoked with Unbelievers
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? Or 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.”
17 Therefore, “Come out from them
and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
18 And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”
Man has this sense of belonging to a community or group...It gives us a sense of fellowship and the people we are near and close to that have similar beliefs that we do, often become our friends...We should surround ourselves with positive people, people that are believers, people who trust and believe in Jesus, and people who have good habits that are similar to our good habits and traits...Being yoked and with an unbeliever or one who is wicked can take us down the wide road of destruction...
Ph. D. Art Markman writes, people seem wired to adopt the goals of the people around with, particularly when they feel close to those others...Of course, that can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what the people around us are doing...For that reason, we have to be careful to surround ourselves with other people who are engaging in the behaviors that we would like to see in ourselves...Author Kendra Cherry writes something very similar, "The need to belong, also known as belongingness, refers to a human emotional need to affiliate with and be accepted by members of a group...This may include the need to belong to a peer group at school, to be accepted by co-workers, to be part of an athletic team, or to be part of a religious group...A sense of belonging involves more than simply being acquainted with other people...It is centered on gaining acceptance, attention, and support from members of the group as well as providing the same attention to other members...The need to belong to a group also can lead to changes in behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes as people strive to conform to the standards and norms of the group...In social psychology, the need to belong is an intrinsic motivation to affiliate with others and be socially accepted...This need plays a role in a number of social phenomena such as self-presentation and social comparison...
Being with believers is a fellowship...This fellowship of believers can help us learn to love and help our neighbors better and with love...St. Paul tells us about fellowship and togetherness in one of his epistles to the Corinthians...St. Paul says not to be yoked together with unbelievers...For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common?...Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?...What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?...Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?...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.”...Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the LORD...Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”...And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.”...