New Wine, New Wineskins

 Luke 5: 33-39

Jesus Questioned About Fasting

³³ They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

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. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

 There's no easy way if we are seeking to grow closer to Jesus, when speaking about fasting. Jesus did not require fasting from his disciples while he was with them, but promised that after he left, there would be plenty of fasting, sacrifice and even suffering.  The old tried and true fact that tearing up a new garment to patch an old one, or pouring new wine into old wineskins doesn't make sense; so too with our attempts at fasting. Half measures or watered-down old methods do not always work.  If we are serious about our fasting, we will go "all the way".  Yet the old methods, unadulterated and taken seriously, can be as effective as the new.  It depends on our mindset and intention. May we not be as concerned about the outward practice, as much as we are about our inner state of mind.  Do we want to come closer to Jesus, or just rack up a record of "spiritual pushups"?

Bro. Rene