#Jesus22 - Daily DevotionalsSample

"Only fools do the same thing over and over again, but expect a different result!"

Do you know any sentences from sermons or conversations that have somehow burnt themselves permanently into your brain? The quote above is such a phrase for me. I heard it from my leader at a Youth Night about 17 years ago and have never forgotten it.

Jesus once said something similar:

“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: 22, NIV)

The story behind this: the religious people were annoyed because Jesus' disciples did not behave the same way as the disciples of all the other rabbis (in that case, fasting). And Jesus' answer makes it clear to them that habits and "traditions" in our lives are nothing fundamentally wrong or bad. On the contrary, they can often be good and helpful - as long as they serve their purpose and don't degenerate into mere habit. (In the passage above, Jesus describes fasting as something good for another moment).

But sometimes traditions and habits can get in our way. There once was a good reason why they came into existence. But now they don't fit with the something new that God wants to show us or do in our lives.

Some time ago, we had a worship night in a new location. We set up the chairs with a center row, just like we were used to in the previous location. When Dave Kull, the worship leader from ICF Zurich, saw it, he asked me, "Why do you set them up like this and not in a block? That would be much better for the atmosphere and connection with the audience."

He was right; we were doing something out of tradition but had lost the reason behind doing so. Something new was better, but a new form was also needed.

God always wants to do something new in your life: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:19, NIV)

Sometimes our clinging to habits of how we do things or would like things to be done gets in the way of the new things God wants to do in our lives.

ACTION STEP

Right now take 3 minutes to ask God:

"God, what do you want to do in my life?

Are there habits of mine that are getting in the way of that?"

Start to replace them with new ways today!