What Does Equally Yoked Mean?
We know as christians that the bible says do not be unequally yoked but What Does Equally Yoked Mean mean?
The literal interpretation of being “equally yoked” means “joined with the same”. In agricultural terms, if a yoke joins two oxen together then they need to be the same in order to work together. Otherwise, they won’t be able to accomplish the goal of farming or tilling the land.
So when it comes to purpose is it important to find the calling on your life before you find the person? There isn’t a straight forward answer to this one but if we are meant to be equally yoked (joined with the same) then I would say that it is important to ensure that you are, yes aligned in your purpose and calling, but also both equally surrendered to God in obedience before entering into a covenant with someone else.
We aren’t all called to do the same things + even the bible says that we have different gifts/callings (Ephesians 4:11). Certain callings hold more weight, require more sacrifice and ultimately are going to need a different level of understanding than others. We were all made unique with different skills, strengths, and capacity. For example the bible says that “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” This means that different callings have different standards attached to them.
If you are a Pastor your role is to shepherd God’s people, and that requires a love of people, a sense of empathy and care so that sacrifice may be being available more than a 9-5 to meet people where they are at, to pray with grieving people, to walk with people through good and bad, where as a truck driver who drives solo would have a different requirement, the sacrifice may be dealing with long hours.
So What Does Equally Yoked Mean? It means knowing what that calling looks like in yourself as well as the person you are dating, and ensure you are aligned to it.
That being said it is important to not only know your purpose but also be flexible to know that often times God calls us out to leave the shores of our safe and comfortable life and launch out into the depths of His plans and I would say it’s more important to be in a covenant with someone who is surrendered to God’s calling and flexible to where God is going to take you together than it is to be set on ensuring you have the same calling/purpose.
If you are both pursuing the Lord and surrendered to him then even when one person doesn’t feel like doing something or feel called to something you can both go together in prayer and petition and believe that you will get the answer of what the Lord wants you to do.
What Does Equally Yoked Mean? It’s truly living in the mindset of “God not my will, but yours be done” . Before I met my husband I knew that the only way a relationship would work was if they were living in that mindset because I already was. I knew that I had already sacrificed everything in my life to follow the Lord and if they weren’t willing to lay down their life to the Lord than we would probably not be equally yoked together.
Knowing you are both surrendered to God, but also ensuring that person is supportive of the vision that God has given you is also important. If you have someone who is constantly belittling the vision God has placed in your heart then chances are that person is not for you. That doesn’t mean that things can’t change, shift, pivot or evolve as time goes on, but it’s having a true partnership in marriage that you will submit first to the Lord and the things He is calling you to do.
So, What Does Equally Yoked Mean? It means to be hand in hand walking together in alignment of where God is taking you.
Written By Michelle Apples
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