“Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.“- Matthew 9:17
Good morning/afternoon/evening friends! I have to start putting that as my intro because so many of you peeps are from around the world. For many of you its evening, but for me I’m just getting up with coffee in hand. I am off again today to enjoy an extended holiday before going back to work for one day. I’m blessed.
So, this is a passage that until recently never really made much sense to me. I felt like the disciples did back with Jesus when He would tell them something and they were totally clueless. I actually have that feeling quite a bit, but its ok because just like they did, when the time is right, I will have understanding. In any case, this passage is quite the eye opener if you dig deeper….
So often in our walk with Christ, we put on clothes of legalism and subscribe to a “checklist” if you will of rules and regulations:
- Go to church on Sunday at 10:30 and Wednesday at 6:00
- Read my Bible at the same time every morning.
- Say my prayers before going to bed.
- Join groups that have the same values and desires as me.
- Memorize Scripture
All of these are great things and I highly support all of them (in one form or another). Problem is that we are trying to implement these things without first changing the wineskin (our old self), instead of first creating a new wineskin (our new self in Christ)! Its like not watering a plant for a month and so it dies, then one day you decide to start watering it and discover that while it absorbs the water, there are no lasting effects. What you would have to do is replace the plant with a new one, with new life, THEN start giving it water and nutriment. When it comes to our walk with Jesus, we are no different. Doing these things without replacing our old life is pointless.
Friends, Jesus told us that through Him we can do great things and even experience the Kingdom of Heaven right now. We can only do that if we change our wineskin and realize who and what we are as a new creation in Christ. We must understand that to get there we must truly die to self and completely surrender to Jesus. I know that some of you are struggling with this; even those in my own family. But I assure you that nothing will ever truly change unless you take this path.
“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”- Galatians 2:20
Change the wineskin my friends,
In Christ,
David
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