Luke 5:36-39 (NIV)
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
Reflection:
In the parable above, Jesus teaches us a lesson about change; about what happens when His change happens in our lives. This “Jesus Change” always requires a response from us and He teaches two ways that we shouldn’t respond. First, we shouldn’t tear a piece of a new garment to patch an old one because not only will the new patch not match the old, but we will have torn the perfectly new garment. Secondly, we shouldn’t pour new wine into old wineskins because when the new wine ferments and expands, the old wineskins will burst, ruining the wineskins and wasting the wine. All of this to teach us that when Jesus does a new thing in our lives, we are to embrace the new things fully and no longer hold onto the old, no matter how comfortable or good it might have been.
Response:
Jesus is always in the business of doing new and greater things in our lives. Let’s pray that God would open our hearts and our lives to fully embrace the new things that He is doing in our churches. Let’s pray that as we say, “Yes” to all that He wants to do, that our churches would experience an even greater measure of His salvation being demonstrated in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
