PLEASE READ THIS FIRST: Luke 5:33-39
What do you sense the Lord saying to you in this passage?
“New wine must be poured into new wineskins.” (Luke 5:38)
Fasting is a spiritual practice that expresses brokenness and desperation.
It can still be used this way, but Jesus has changed things.
He has brought us into a new relationship (covenant) with God.
Like the bridegroom and the bride at the wedding, it is not time to fast.
Our new relationship with God warrants new ways to express our new reality.
And yet we get so familiar with old ways we don’t want to lose them.
Jesus did not teach fasting because he was giving something new.
Because of Jesus, our sin and misery do not define us anymore.
As Paul says, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
We are now in Lent, when people often fast in preparation or holy week.
My main concern is not whether I am fasting or not.
I want to taste the new wine: a close, personal relationship with Jesus.
Do I sense that I am loved, forgiven, and fully belong to him?
PRAYER
Lord, there may be times when fasting is helpful, but what my heart really wants is to feast on your love, joy and peace. I am thirsty for your new wine!
“And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’” How resistant to change for those accustomed to the old! Jesus new covenant is not bound by all kinds of sacrifices and rituals – yet those used to it say they are better. They are not – the new is better. The new covenant is based on faith and grace – not on compliance to all kinds of rules and ritual. Lord, help me to appreciate the old and the new – bringing out treasures in both that build up my faith -not there it down in all manner of rituals and obligations. Let me live by the spirit – to be a source of blessing!
The old is good, or is it? Changing ways is hard in living and after having the new wine the wine skins also need to be changed. I need to be changed with the new wine – a new lifestyle – living for Jesus. That living requires total change inside and out. ll for Jesus in all I do – words and deeds. Serving my Saviour all day long.
1 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.
2 Perfect communion, perfect delight,
visions of rapture now burst on my sight.
Angels descending bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love. [Refrain]
3 Perfect submission, all is at rest.
I in my Savior am happy and bless’d,
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with his goodness, lost in his love. [Refrain]