Wineskins

February 26

(Luke 5:37-39 NIV) “And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. {38} No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. {39} And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.’”

(Romans 7:6 NIV) “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”

(Colossians 3:9-10 NIV) “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices {10} and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”

New wineskins are needed for the new wine of Christ. New wine cannot be placed into old wineskins. They are no longer pliable and will burst as the new wine ferments and expands. With this parable, Jesus was saying to those with ears to hear, “My newness cannot be contained in old forms. I am new life. I bring a new covenant. I am making all things new.” Something new was happening and it called for new hearts and new thinking. The majority of the Pharisees were too “old school” to make the trip to newness in Christ. They were the old covenant. They were old wineskins. Newness cannot flourish in old forms. Christians, we must continually look at ourselves, our structures, our traditions, and our practices. We must ask the question… “Are we becoming old wineskins?” Our wineskins must remain new or they will not be fit for the new wine that Jesus offers daily. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day