I’ve been fortunate in my life to be partnered with people who have shared my core beliefs. Let’s face it: people were created to be in relationships. Whether it is a marriage relationship, a dating relationship, a business relationship, or any other relationship we find ourselves in, we should understand the risks of being partnered with someone who doesn’t have the same faith and values that we do as followers of Christ. Life is difficult on its own, even when clearly and unequivocally undergirded with a relationship with Jesus Christ. Why would you want to pile on relationship baggage that might pull you away from the life Christ wants you to lead? I certainly wouldn’t. Paul begins chapter 6 of 2 Corinthians with the words “As God’s partners...”, a description of a very close working relationship. If a believer partners with an unbeliever, there is the real possibility of tension being created between your relationship with God and your relationship with the unbeliever because of the unbeliever’s disregard for any relationship with God. Talk about complications. Now you have three relationships––all with differing systems of values influencing decisions––being jammed together. The relationship between you and God. The relationship between you and the unbeliever. The relationship––or lack of relationship––between the unbeliever and God. Your relationship with God is characterized by light and truth, yet the unbeliever’s relationship with God is nonexistent––at best––characterized by a relationship existing in darkness and lies. Even if you consider your partnership workable and pretty satisfactory, it will not stand up against the storms of differences, misunderstandings, or disputes that may happen. Darkness and light cannot coexist. And when the storms come––and they will––the relationship between you and an unbeliever will not prevail and could very well be destructive and a hindrance to your relationship with God. Sure, we are to witness to and interact with nonbelievers. God certainly doesn’t want us to withdraw from the world. But that doesn’t mean we need to enter into an intimate, close relationship with those who don’t share our core values.

UNCOMMON KEY> Be choosy about the people you decide to partner with in your relationships. Is it time to make some hard decisions? If you are partnered with a believer, tell that person how much you value what he or she adds to the relationship.

What is God saying to you right now? Jot down those thoughts and pray them back to Him.

This devotion was taken from: The One Year–UNCOMMON LIFE–Daily Challenge; April 18; by Tony Dungy and Nathan Whitaker