Monthly Archive

“Neither do men 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, the pour new wine in to new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Matthew 5:17

Ok. I admit it. Change comes hard for me. I like consistency. I like to know things will be the same for me today and tomorrow and the next year! Familiarity breeds comfort. But, alas, familiarity can also breed boredom! A life of ‘same-ness’ oozes boredom and stagnancy.

When Jesus came on the scene in Israel, the religious community was pretty comfy. The Priests and Pharisees had put together a secure list of do’s and don’ts so that everyone would know exactly what was expected of them and of how God would act in each situation. The people knew who to be with, when do be with them, what to do when they were with them and where to go. It was a pretty safe, sterile environment. Comfy. But it was also empty.

Then Jesus came along and ‘messed everything up’! Things changed when He entered a town, talked and ate with sinners and broke the rules about the Sabbath. The old ways wouldn’t work anymore. The rules mad had made up would be replaces by relationship. RELATIONSHIP TRUMPS RULES EVERY TIME!

One day, Jesus was confronted about his radical ways. He reminded those in attendance about the ‘rule of the wineskins’. The rule of the wineskins went like this. Wineskins were made of leather. When the wineskin was new and supple it would expand as the wine fermented, thus preserving both the leather and the wine.

Putting ‘new wine’ into an old wineskin was a recipe for disaster. As  the wine fermented it would expand against the brittle walls of the old leather and cause it to burst. Both the wine and the wineskin were ruined!

When we ask Jesus Christ into our lives He makes everything new. He’s the ‘new wine’, we are the new wineskin. We are new creatures. As new creations we don’t need to operate under the old system of guilt, shame and feeling like we are failures. We can leave all that behind and move on to the great things God has in store for us.

It’s time for new thinking. It’s time to dream big. This new way of thinking starts by realizing who we are. We are children of the Heavenly Father, the King of the universe and He has new, exciting plans for each of us.  You are loved by Him more than anything, just because you are who you are.

Our Heavenly Father has given us everything we need to succeed. Success God’s way isn’t measured the same way the world measures success. Success God’s way is on the inside. It’s the contentment we feel knowing who we are. It’s the peace and joy we feel as a result of our salvation and relationship with Him.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, Thank you for showing us a life without limits. Forgive me for my lack of belief in your desire and ability to empower me to live life to the fullest. Help me to live daily in your peace. Amen.