Tough Questions… Jesus’ AnswersSample

Hungry for Something New?

Within our first five years of marriage, my amazing wife, Jennifer, and I welcomed three babies… talk about changes and adjustments! We were swimming in baby stuff for years and I quickly learned—new things are fantastic, but they also require preparation, flexibility, and a willingness to change.

Change is actually found all throughout Scripture. God has been leading people out of old, unhealthy ways of thinking and living for thousands of years! 700 years prior to Christ in Isaiah 43:19, God said, “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Friend, in order to receive the new things which God wants to do, we must be willing to make changes and create space for growth.

Jesus Himself clearly spoke of the power of change when He shared His Parable of the Wine and Wineskins in Matthew 9:17: “Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Wineskins were leather pouches that stored wine in Jesus’ time. You see, unfermented wine expands and will break old, rigid wineskins as it ages, whereas new wineskins have the elasticity to handle the pressure as unfermented wine expands.

Here in this passage, Jesus is teaching, “The old rituals of Judaism and the sacrificial system cannot contain the freshness that comes from the Gospel and grace of God.” The problem with old structures is they can’t contain new life! Jesus was calling for new beliefs, new thoughts, new attitudes, new actions, new habits, and new lifestyles.

Friends, God wants to do a fresh work of grace in our hearts and our lives—so let’s be a people who have open, pliable hearts that are willing to change!

As you engage with God’s Word:

● What is God saying to you?

● What does it mean to you?

● What action step do you need to take?

After you reflect on these questions, bring everything to God in prayer.