A NEW LIFE
Matthew 9:15-17
"And Jesus said to them, 'Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.' "
I'm not sure I understand the meaning of these three metaphors – the bridegroom, the cloth, and the wineskins. But it seems that the common denominator is "new" – a new day, a new cloth, a new wineskin. I think the warning is against trying to mix the old with the new. Jesus came to give new life – not just to improve the old. God calls us to a new life – a total change of heart. Jesus said, "You must be born again" (John 3:7). That is not just patching up the old, but starting fresh. "Put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:22-24). Just adding some religion to the old life without being transformed will fail. The patch will tear; the wineskin will be broken. That is the reason some people do not endure in their Christian walk. They have never really been made new in their heart.
TODAY'S PRINCIPLE: God does not just improve life; He transforms it.
[end]
Have a new day. Love you.
Matthew 9:15-17
"And Jesus said to them, 'Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.' "
I'm not sure I understand the meaning of these three metaphors – the bridegroom, the cloth, and the wineskins. But it seems that the common denominator is "new" – a new day, a new cloth, a new wineskin. I think the warning is against trying to mix the old with the new. Jesus came to give new life – not just to improve the old. God calls us to a new life – a total change of heart. Jesus said, "You must be born again" (John 3:7). That is not just patching up the old, but starting fresh. "Put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:22-24). Just adding some religion to the old life without being transformed will fail. The patch will tear; the wineskin will be broken. That is the reason some people do not endure in their Christian walk. They have never really been made new in their heart.
TODAY'S PRINCIPLE: God does not just improve life; He transforms it.
[end]
Have a new day. Love you.
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