Oil and Water

"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?" 

(2 Corinthians 6:14-15)

No matter how carefully you try to blend them, no matter how vigorously you shake them up, try as you might, oil and water just don't mix.

Their chemical makeup is different. Their molecules are different. 

They were never meant to blend together.

God, who is sovereign, has designed all kinds of simple illustrations, in normal daily things like oil and water not mixing, for our learning—to save us from a whole lot of grief and pain. 

I once heard a wise man say: 

"Sin is not bad because it's forbidden—it's forbidden because it's bad."

We see something or someone that may look perfect for us, and we go to great lengths to justify it to ourselves, and then attain it. On the surface, this perfect person for you may look like you've finally found your "soul mate."

A trap is a trap because it doesn't look like a trap. It looks good to the eyes. It looks sweet to eat. It will make us wiser. 

But it's still a deadly trap.

Just ask Eve.

"Oh, you're just being legalistic!" you might say. "Surely God will bless this relationship, because we're just so right for each other!" you might add. Or, "She'll change, if I just love her with God's love she'll hopefully want to be a Christian too!" you might reason.

Why do you think that God would give such a command that we should not be unequally yoked together with (married to, dating) an unbeliever?

"To deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words, who forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God. For her house leads down to death, and her paths to the dead; none who go to her return, nor do they regain the paths of life." (Proverbs 2:16-17)

That last part is extremely sobering...

"None who go to her return, nor do they regain the paths of life."

Sin is progressive, and it's a very slippery slope. 

You may start out slow. "Oh, we're just making out, but we're not sleeping together!" you might say to yourself.

"Well, we're sleeping in the same bed together, but we're not having sex..." you might lie, trying to justify your sin to a concerned friend or parent.

And, speaking from personal experience, before you know it, you dove into the deep end of the sin pool and you can't get out. 

You're in way too deep.

Had the careless son only heeded the wise warning of his Father...

"My son, pay attention to my wisdom; lend your ear to my understanding, that you may preserve discretion, and your lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of Hell. Lest you ponder her path of life, her ways are unstable; you do not know them." (Proverbs 5:1-6)

In my own willful dive into the deep end of the sin pool of adultery, I did not heed the warnings from my Father to flee from the lips of an immoral woman. Her words were sweet as honey—music to my ears. Her convincing explanation that "God wanted me to be happy" were smoother than oil to my hurting heart, in the midst of a troubled marriage that wasn't very happy at the time.

But as the warning from my Father clearly states: 

"Her ways are unstable—you do not know them." And "Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of Hell."

I was so far gone in my own sin and rebellion against God and against my wife, that I was actually planning to marry this other woman, who I allowed myself to be convinced, was my 'soul mate.'  But it was a trap.

But, praise God, He kept speaking to my heart, drawing me to Himself, showing me that this other woman was a trap from Satan.

God gave my wife and I grace, love and forgiveness for each other, to come back together, and give our broken marriage to Him to fix.

However, had I not obeyed Him, the sad result would have been...

"His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, and he is caught in the cords of his sin. He shall die for lack of instruction and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray."  (Proverbs 5:22-23)

The man, or woman, who chooses to follow down the destructive path of sin and iniquity is caught in the cords of his or her own sin. It's like getting caught in a big spider web of your own choosing.

"Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; he who does so destroys his own soul. Wounds and dishonor he will get, and his reproach will not be wiped away." (Proverbs 6:32-33)

Spiritual death would have been my fate, had I walked away from God. It would have been impossible for me to get out of the trap I dove into, if I wandered past the point of no return—beyond repentance.

"For her house leads down to death, and her paths to the dead; none who go there return."

I was in so deep, I almost didn't make it out alive. 

It was only by the grace of God, and a lot of people praying for me, and a close friend who got in my face, who rebuked me, and shook me out of my sinful slumber—that I am still here today, happily married to my wonderful wife, and loving and serving God.

Many don't make it out alive.

If you will hear your Father's voice today, and heed His wisdom and instruction, then discretion will preserve you.

Don't make the same mistake that I made. You may think you've found your soul mate. He or she may look like the "perfect person" for you.

But if he or she is not a born again follower of Christ—and you are—you will only bring grief, heartache and destruction upon yourself and upon others, if you choose to continue down a path of sin that your Father in Heaven has warned you about, and commanded you not to pursue.

Oil and water do not mix.

-They were never meant to.

—God is Love, and Love Never Fails.