small business
Unequally Yoked
By Crown Financial Ministries
CBNMoney.com
– Choosing a business partner should be done with the same caution as choosing a spouse.
In 2 Corinthians 6:14, Paul wrote, "Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?" Clearly, the "what" is specific: believers are admonished not to be yoked to unbelievers. Then other questions arise. What is a yoke? Does it cover only marriages or does it extend also to business relationships?
What is a yoke?
In 2 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV) where Paul says, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers," the yoke referenced is a farm implement used to link two working animals together.
This yoke in the Lord’s day was a common everyday device used to couple oxen together for plowing or hauling. The oxen were matched as closely as possible so the burden would be distributed equally. The two animals had to be trained to work together, even walking stride for stride. The yoke bound them together for the purpose of accomplishing a task, and without mutual compromise it could not be done.
Hence, the analogy of a yoke to a marriage is an accurate one. A marriage should be two people pulling in common bond toward compatible goals and sharing the load equally.
A financial yoke
Other than a marriage, there is no better defined yoke between two or more people than a business partnership. The intent of a partnership is to create a binding business relationship in which all parties are equal in responsibility, authority, and liability. Indeed, the law deals with partnerships in this manner. If one partner commits to a business decision, all partners are bound by it.
People with opposite goals and values will not be compatible. When they are linked (yoked) together, either in marriage or in business, their differing values will ultimately create conflicts.
When a believer and an unbeliever can maintain a successful partnership without conflict over the spiritual goals of the company, it is normally because the believer has compromised God’s principles (see Romans 12:2).
Conclusion
If you are already in an unequally yoked business situation, observe the principles taught by Paul in 1 Corinthians 7. If you have the opportunity to be released from the partnership, you should arrange it. If you don’t have the opportunity, make your partner’s salvation your number one item of prayer.
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