The New Wine and the Old Wineskins

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.” Mark 2:22

Do you remember when you were a child and you had that favorite shirt that you didn’t want to let go of? Your Mom bought it for you when you were 5 years old, and now you are 8 years old and still want to wear it. The arms are tight and you can hardly put it on. The sleeves are short and look 3/4 length of what they were previously. The shirt is short, and it doesn’t even cover your waistline anymore, but you are adamant in wearing it. Your Mom tries to tell you that it doesn’t look good on you anymore, but you still envision yourself looking great and getting complements wearing that shirt. The reality is:” It’s over. It’s time to let it go and have a respectable funeral for that shirt and start wearing your appropriate size outfit!”

Some of the things we hold on to spiritually are just like the shirt in the above example. They worked fine for a season, but it’s time to let them go and take on the new things God desires for us. This will allow us to continue to grow up and not stay stuck in how we saw ourselves or how others perceived us in the past.

The longer we have walked with God, the greater challenge we have in not remaining as an old wineskin but to stay new, fresh, and flexible with the work of God in and around us.

What are the areas that cause us to operate as an old wineskin?

–Fear will cause us to avoid change and try to control things instead of trusting God.

–Tradition makes us be so comfortable to doing things a certain way, that we are not open to change.

–Pride creates a mindset that we only want to receive from certain people, but others don’t have much to offer us.

-We have a certain reputation  that we enjoy among people, and  we don’t want anything to affect that perception.

-Attending church for a long time, can make us think we are more mature than we really are.  As result we are offended by anything that challenges our thinking or mindset.

Some of the characteristics of fresh or new wineskins are:

–Being teachable. We are willing to receive and change. The teaching doesn’t have to come from a certain people to be valid and good.

–Staying flexible. We are willing to shift our mindset about things.

–Growing without much resistance. To be right with God is more important than to be right in our stance.

–Not being afraid of something new because we haven’t seen or experienced it before. God is always on the move. He can do what He wants to, and He is not bound by our experiences to operate in a certain way.

–Continuing to receive revelation through the word of God and His spirit. Getting fresh insight and revelation from the Lord is a necessity to staying fresh as a new wineskin.

–Staying free from tradition and fear of man. We need to focus on God’s move and work in the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit should override any other voice in our lives otherwise we have limited God’s voice only to what is acceptable to us or those around us.

What kind of wineskins are we today? Do we struggle with change? Do we find plenty of excuses not to face change? Or do we embrace change and growth in the Lord regardless of the source of change?