Scripture Reading:

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother (which is the first commandment with promise) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.”
— Ephesians 6:1,2

In all likelihood mom and dad have been impressing upon you the importance of only dating and marrying those who are saved. You may think that they are being narrow-minded, but the truth is, your parents are looking out for your spiritual well-being. The Word of God is quite clear when it comes to the matter of separation:

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (II Cor. 6:14).

Some Christian young people feel strongly that there is no harm in just dating the unsaved. But why become emotionally involved in a relationship that has no future? Furthermore, it is unfair to the unbelieving party who will never understand your reasoning for breaking off the relationship. We have seen too many tragic cases where these types of associations end up in unequally yoked marriages that fail. So, may we encourage our young people to heed the godly counsel of their parents, for in so doing, you will spare yourself a lifetime of heartache.

But where can a Christian young person find Mr. or Mrs. Right? Since faithful believers do not frequent worldly establishments your search must begin where the Lord’s people gather. You must take the initiative to regularly attend church services, conferences, youth groups and camp meetings. In the meantime, a young man should be working toward financial stability while the young ladies learn to cook. After all, there is a limitation to McDonald’s!

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

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