“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” Mark 2:21-22
In Mark chapter 2, Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees and the disciples of John explaining the kingdom of God and the change that was required. The people were used to behavior modification and were programmed into following rules and tradition. They were wondering why Jesus’ disciples were not fasting. There was nothing wrong with fasting, but there was no need for Jesus’ disciples to fast while the bridegroom was with them.
The problem with religion and just following the rules is that one can follow them out of rote and tradition without really thinking about the reason the Lord asks us to obey Him. We need to understand the significance of those rules and traditions and be sensitive to how the Lord wants to apply them in our lives.
Jesus shared a couple of parables in order to explain the change. In one of his parables, He described how you couldn’t sow an unshrunk cloth to an old garment or the new piece will pull away from the old.
My Mom used make quilts, which were a collection of different fabrics patchworked together in a beautiful and colorful design. Since the fabrics were extra pieces of cloth from various articles of clothing, she had to ensure that they were all similar in thickness and were washed and preshrunk prior to using them. If some were relatively new and never washed before, the new fabric could pull away from the rest of the quilt making the quilt look sloppy and poorly sown.
When we live our new life in Christ with old mentality, there is a pulling in us that continues to go on because the flesh is at war with the Spirit. In order for us not to have those struggles, we must continue to let go of worldly and fleshly mentality and only permit those things that are washed and sanctified by the blood to enter in. This allows us to have peace and unity within, and it prevents us from continually wrestling with the Spirit because of our carnal desires.
I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.
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