In scripture there is a parable that Jesus tells saying that new wine needs to go in a new wineskin. Essentially, he was telling us that the old is gone and adhering inflexibly to the old way will only produce loss. Jesus was doing something new.
36 He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, 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. (Luke 5:36-38 NIV).
I have been wrestling with God. I have been trying to reconcile the old me with the new me. It wasn’t working. I was in trying to force the new into the old when God brought me to this scripture. I need a new wineskin. It is a metaphor for many of us.
Jesus changes us. We do the work to restore our brokenness. We find a new sense of love and grace. We don’t want to go back to what was and yet we often find ourselves trying to force the new into the old assuming we need to reconcile the two together. It was a poor assumption.
This became a useful way for me to fully let go of what was and step into the new. It has become a symbolic way for me to claim victory over the violence others inflicted. I am no longer that person. I don’t have to continue to try and force the new into the old. I am laying down the old and walking on in new wineskin leaving the old behind.
Do you need a new wineskin? Are you trying to keep the old and embrace the new? Share your story here and breathe life and bring hope to others.