Reading: 2 Corinthians 6:14-16Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
A yoke is a wooden frame or bar with loops at either end, fitted around the necks of two animals, which tied them together and forced them to function as one. "Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together" (Deuteronomy 22:10). That may seem strange to us, but God was concerned that the Israelites not tie together two animals of a different nature.
I have never seen an ox and an ass yoked together, though once when I was traveling in the Middle East I saw a farmer plowing his field with a camel and a donkey. It was almost ludicrous to watch. The camel was three times the height of the donkey, and its legs were three times as long. It was striding along at a rather slow pace for a camel, but the little donkey was running as fast as it could to keep up. The farmer kept beating the donkey all the time, trying to get it to keep up. It was cruel.
The great unanswered question is, "What is a yoke?" Is being friends with kids who bulley other kids a yoke? Is being friends with kids who use bad language a yoke? Is being friends with disobedient children a yoke? Yes, but not all friendships are yokes, saying hi to someone, or being kind and polite to them is not a yoke. But yokes have two characteristics by which we can always identify them.
1. A yoke is not easily broken. It is a kind of permanent relationship. When you yoke two animals together they are bound together; they do not have any choice.
2. It does not permit independent action. There is something that forces you to comply with what the other one wants to do, whether you like it or not.
Any kind of relationship that does not permit a child of God to follow his or her Lord in all things is a yoke. If it is the kind of possessive friendship in which you feel you cannot do what God wants you to do and you disobey your parents and elders because you will offend your friend, then that is a yoke, and it must be broken.
Source: Mr. Ray Stedman (modified for kids understanding)
Activity For The Day - TEACH US TO PRAY
