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"When a person sews a patch over a hole on an old coat, he
never uses a piece of cloth that is not yet shrunk. If he
does, the patch will {shrink and} pull away from the coat.
Then the hole will be worse. Also, people never pour new wine
into old wine bags. Why? Because the old bags will break. The
wine will spill, and the wine bags will be ruined. But people
always pour new wine into new wine bags. Then the wine and
the wine bags will continue to be good."
-- Matthew 9:16-17 (ERV)
None of us likes to give up something familiar or comfortable. This is
even more true when this "something" has been the controlling point for
our view of reality, morality, and religion. So we have a tendency to
plug in something we like in a new experience or religion into our old
religious context and make it fit. Jesus' point here is that what he
brings cannot be made to fit in the old order and old forms of religion
with which they were familiar. No, to do that would be destructive to
both the old and the new. What Jesus brings is new, fresh, and
transformational. It will rip apart anything that tries to force it
into another way of doing, perceiving and experiencing. The Kingdom
Family is God's way of doing life, not just another religion to be
thrown into the world mix of faiths.
Father, You are the One and True God. I come to You today asking You to
strengthen my resolve and deepen my commitment to live according to
Your will, revealed by Jesus. I confess to You that I find it easy to
rationalize away the bite in some of Jesus' words and simply combine
His teaching with what I already believe. Through Your Spirit, I pray
that You will help me see Your truth in Jesus, and not just my
prejudices. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. |
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