"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."
Mark 2:22
What the Lord was saying was well known to the people of His day; wine, as it ferments, releases gases that would cause an old, stiff leather wineskin to swell and burst, and the result would be the loss of both the wine and the wineskin. With a new batch of wine, a new wineskin was required.
It doesn’t work to keep to our old lifestyle as we follow Jesus. Some things will have to change. A new way of thinking will cause a new way of talking, new priorities will dictate a new approach to entertainment, we find new ways to spend our time. New friendships will develop.
Some of the old ways will just fall by the wayside. Others will give us trouble as we hang on to them until they sort of explode in our face.
God is doing something new in our life, and that means the shape of our life will change.
Lord Jesus, thank You for the warning. I know that You are doing something new in my life. Show me what needs to change so that I can follow You. Don’t let my old life hold me back or cause me to lose the wonderful new thing You have made of me. Keep me close to You, Lord. Amen.
Pastor Dan Giles