Envelopes, Jeans, and Wineskins

I am a member of www.paperbackswap.com and I mail and receive books from all over the country. Todd got tired of my high book costs and found this website for me. For the price of mailing a book media mail- I receive a book! Pretty cool.

So, one day I was mailing a book, and rather than using the paper packaging I can print myself, I decided to use an envelope. I opened the envelope and starting trying to stuff my book inside. It didn't fit easily, so I decided to wedge it in...trying to squeak it past the sides, going side to side- you know the drill. I was determined to fit that book inside the envelope- when low and behold- the sides ripped! Wasted try, wasted envelope.

Tina Fabulous. Do any of you remember her from The Bachelor? I can still see her before one of her dates trying to squeeze inside a pair of jeans by lying down on the bed and putting them on. I thought, how ridiculous! How uncomfortable! But, she seemed to be just fine with the whole squeezing into a pair of jeans and it seemed to be a normal occurrence in her jean-wearing life. For me, I thank the person who invented tencel fabric and stretch jeans- I know, not very fashionable- but I like to be able to breath when I wear jeans. Don't even get me started on skinny jeans- the whole name just causes me to gag.

As I was trying to stuff my book inside the envelope- a sermon Todd had just given came to mind. When he talked about trying to stuff our new life of Christianity inside the old sinful life. It doesn't fit, it doesn't make sense...and yet many times we still try to make them cohabitate- trying to live in both worlds. This creates dissatisfaction, discomfort, and a feeling of not belonging in either one.

Jesus told them this story: "No person takes cloth off a new coat to cover a hole on an old coat. Why? Because he ruins the new coat, and the cloth from the new coat will not be the same as the old cloth. People never pour new wine into old wine bags. Why? Because the new wine will break the bags, and the wine will spill out and the wine bags will be ruined. People always put new wine into new wine bags. No person that drinks old wine wants new wine. Why? Because he says, 'The old wine is fine.'" Luke 5:36-39 ERV

There are a couple of points I want to bring out from this passage. The main one being- that our life in Christ is a NEW work- Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have disappeared, and - look! - all things have become new (2 Cor. 5:17).

In a devotional by Phil Ware: "Jesus' point is clear. Don't try to limit God's new life in Christ. Don't try to contain it with your old religious categories. Don't try to dilute it with your old religious practices. Jesus brings something new. Celebrate it. Enjoy its blessings. Be challenged by its demands and rejoice in its promises. But don't ever try to simply attach it to what you had before. The call of Christ is new, fresh, and all encompassing. Begin each day with fresh eyes and new ears with the expectation that the Lord will do something you have never seen or expected. You won't feel safe. It won't be predictable. But, it will be marvelous!"

Many times, we try to 'patch' God into our old understanding of who He is, we try to patch God's truth onto our idea of what religious means, and we try to patch Him onto our sinful life. But, God desires to do something new with us. Not patch up our life- but a new creation. How wonderful when we allow God the freedom to do with us what He desires!

I think another point to recognize from this passage is found in verse 39; "No one who has been drinking old wine wants new wine, for he says, 'The old is excellent!" God understands our struggles. He knows that it is hard for us to let go of the known to embrace the unknown. But, he also knows the freedom, the peace, and the life that awaits those who throw out the old wine skins and pour the new wine into new wine skins.

Philippians 2:13- For it is God who is producing in you both the desire and the ability to do what pleases him.

Again from Phil Ware: "The old life and its temptations lure us and invite us back. So often we succumb. The old religious way of thinking, one based on works righteousness and earning our own salvation, often seeps back into our Christian way of thinking, robbing us of its vitality. The lure of the familiar is powerful. It is also a deadly thief, robbing our new life in Christ of its grace, joy, and victory. Don't go back and mix some other form of religion you know with the radical call of Jesus!"

God desires us to please Him, not straddle the fence, not live lukewarm lives or He will spew us out.

Pray that God will help you to live fully sold out, committed to pleasing Him in all things- turning away from the old, and allowing Him to do something NEW in your life.