Navigating Relationships as a Christian: Insights from 2 Corinthians

Navigating Relationships as a Christian: Insights from 2 Corinthians 6:14
Question:
We had a student ask this question, “There’s this girl I like, but she’s not a Christian. I’ve asked her to go to church, but she doesn’t want anything to do with it. She keeps asking me to go out with her, even though I say no. What do I do?”
Answer:
First of all, there's an implication that the student says they are a Christian.
I think that's an important thing to first distinguish. Like, what is a Christian? A Christian is not a follower of religion, but a Christian is somebody who says that I want to be like Christ, that Jesus is my Savior, and that I desire to be more like him and less like me.
And that's truly what a Christian is: somebody who is submitted to the Lord as to Jesus as Lord of their life. And so, first thing, if you have this question or a similar question, do you have that heart check within yourself and say, “Am I a follower of Jesus?”
In answering the question at face value, how should you respond if you're a Christian and you have someone who is interested in you, or you're interested in who's not a Christian?
This is one of those questions that the Bible actually gives a very direct answer to. This one is laid out in 2 Corinthians 6:14 NLT.
“Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?”
You might be familiar with another translation, 2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV, where Paul states
“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.”
And so that would be the basic instruction to this question. The first thing you should look for in a potential spouse or somebody you're going to date is that they are a Christian.
As we're talking to youth, there are other challenges here on the timing and direction of the relationship as well. Many times there's pressure from our culture that we need the status of having a boyfriend or a girlfriend. And again, I believe there's another heart check in there, that even if this girl is a Christian, you have to ask yourself and pray, “Is this the right timing for me to be in a dating relationship knowing that God's standard for a relationship would be one that would ultimately lead you towards marriage?”
So casual dating, as our culture has it, is just off and is very rarely gonna honor God. Check out 2 Corinthians 6:14 for further insight.

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