No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. For the patch will pull away from the garment, and a worse tear will result. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”
Matthew 9:16-17
God’s righteousness, His life, ALL that He is cannot fit into our flesh, our old wine skins. His life, or our flesh – One or the other must go. Our strongholds (many we’re not even aware of yet), our “why me,” our complaining, our tendency to want to trust in our intellect or our credentials or our heritage/lineage, our bitterness, our desire to control our lives, our addictions, our selfishness, our unforgiving heart, our pride, our lust, our jealousy, our insecurity, our disappointment and anger, our dreams and goals, our impatience, our greed, our hurt and wanting/striving to understand, our desire to think our way out of messes, our fear, our worry, our religious heart, our depression, our hating our enemies, our fighting God – these cannot contain Him. In order for Him to come into our lives, these (our flesh) must go. There isn’t room for both.
Double-mindedness (So many religious people live with double-mindedness. I did and God is still cleansing me of it.) will tear our wine skin (our lives) apart and make our lives miserable until we willingly relinquish all of us to Him. Conformity to this world, to the flesh, will never give us the opportunity to be transformed into His precious, liberating image and likeness.
The only question that remains is, will I get out of the way for Him to enter in? Will (and it can take a long to remove our stubborn, sometimes fearful, and proud “will.”) I pour out my life-depleting flesh so He can come in and make me whole?
“God, please show me how to die to my heavy, life-draining flesh so I can drink You, with all of Your righteousness, in so I can be made new, whole and full of Your supernatural peace that surpasses my natural understanding, so I can be filled with Your wonderful, infinite wisdom, hope, contentment, mercy, grace, peace, rest, love, and joy.”
God bless,
Mark