Key Bible Verse: Don't team up with … unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14). Bonus Reading: 2 Corinthians 6:1-7:1

Someone wasn't paying attention to details when the American Cancer Society decided to hold a benefit night in conjunction with a professional tennis tournament. That sounded safe, tennis being excellent exercise for a healthy heart and all. Things turned embarrassing, though, when the ACS discovered that a major tobacco company was sponsoring the competition. They'd committed themselves to selling 500 tickets to an event named after a brand of cigarettes! So here was a group that urges people to quit smoking sending out publicity showing a young woman with a tennis racket in one hand, a cigarette in the other.

Just as cigarettes and the American Cancer Society don't mix, neither do Christians and some of our entanglements. For example, if you start dating a person who has no interest in God or biblical morality, you're sending mixed signals. Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 6:14 that God's children must avoid partnering with those who don't share their commitment to Christ. Why? Because righteousness and wickedness have nothing in common. So let's be careful not to be teamed up with those who favor Satan's agenda over the Lord's.

—Mart De Haan in Power Up!

My Response: How can I win over friends who aren't fellow believers without compromising my standards?

Thought to Apply: In our well-intentioned identification with the world, we do not mold it—it molds us. We are not to be isolated but insulated, moving in the midst of evil but untouched by it. —VANCE HAVNER (preacher, evangelist)

Adapted from Sports Spectrum Power Up! (9-10/01) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, give me the discernment and determination to make my conduct consistent with my beliefs.

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