“The RoseBouquet”

Jesus is speaking. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wine skins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wine skin will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wine skins, and both are preserved.” (NIV)

People experienced with sewing or wine-making, will have chuckled at the notion of patching old with new, or filling an old wineskin with new wine. They knew it had been tried.

I’ve done enough mending to know that, yes, putting a brand new patch on an old tear doesn’t work well. It tends to make it worse.

I’ve no experience with wine-making, but have heard new wine wants to breath and grow as it ferments. An old wine-skin (a bottle made from goat hide) would become brittle and hardened, so it would not expand in keeping with the wine. It would easily burst.

How does this apply to our lives spiritually, though? What does it have to do with your or me today?

Jesus used these vivid images to say that we have to start over. We can’t just patch a mistake in our lives and expect it to hold. Nor can we pour a new Holy Spirit into an old and brittle life. It means starting with a totally new creation. How do we do that?

It means coming to Jesus, and saying in effect, “I’m sick and tired of running my own life. I only keep on sinning. I can’t patch and improve it bit by bit. Since You died for me on the cross, let’s consider the old me dead. The life I shall life from now on is Your resurrected life in all Your power and glory.”

PRAYER: Lord, I’m dead spiritually to all my past, and I want to live Your borrowed life through my body and being. You died for me, now live for me, dear Holy Spirit. I will be like a new wine skin, breathing, expanding, as Your Spirit works in and through me with a heavenly power and might! Hallelujah!

+++++Jesus is my King+++++Jesus is my King+++++

Blessings on you Today!
Ruth Marlene Friesen

P.S. You will love Ruthe’s Secret Roses if you like;
* walking and talking intimately with God
* stories of compassion and dramatic conversion
* have a bleeding, caring heart of your own
* are a caregiving older sister
* love designing clothes and make-overs
* love giving gifts and surprises
* are a mentor or counseling kind of friend.