New Wine

Last night I met with a pastor friend of mine.  As we spent time together in fellowship and discussing God's Word, we zeroed in on the following verse from Mark 2:22.

"And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” (ESV)

As I meditated on this portion of scripture a thought came to me that I would like to share with you.  Are you trying to mingle new wine with old wine?  Are you trying to force new wine in old wineskin?  You see in this parable Jesus is saying that when the Lord is doing something fresh and new in your life, it is time for you to put the old man, the old way of doing things, away and to step into the new.  It is time for you to let God put to rest the grave yard clothes that you have been wearing and put on new garments.

Let's look at this from a natural perspective.  When a company merges with another company, the first thing that happens is the old way of doing things are changed.  The new company comes in, evaluates the way the former company does business and comes up with a plan to streamline the business so that efficiency, profitability and growth will happen.  The old wine is removed and the new wine is implemented.  Now this can be a hard transition for some of us but the thing that amazes me is that no matter how hard the transition can be, you are willing to change, accept the fact that change has come and then you adapt to the change.  So if you are willing to do this in the natural, why not do it for God?

You see God wants to do a new thing in your life but you must be willing to give up the way you used to do things.  You need to be willing to let go of those things you used to hold on to.  You need to be willing for the Lord to take off your grave clothes and exchange it for a garment of righteousness.  You can try to put new wine in old wineskin if you want to be as the parable in Mark 2:22 describes but you will lose it all and it will be destroyed!!!  My friend, God wants and desires to do a new thing in your life.  Do not feast on yesterday's bread.  Do not put new wine in old wineskin but allow the Lord to take you to that new place where He would want for you to be.... Live today anew in Christ......