Accepting New Ways

Bible Reading: Luke 5:36-39
Author: Linda Cunningham (Middlesex, England)
Friday 29 March 2024 © The Upper Room.

After a number of years acting, walking and responding to life in certain ways, I was set in them. So much so that when the Lord asked me to do a new thing, I found it difficult to respond, to act and walk in a different way.

Jesus uses a description of someone who likes old wine and will not try new wine because they are satisfied with the old. But I wasn’t satisfied with my old ways. I was running on empty.

In order for the Lord to pour new life into me I had to let go of the old. For the old wineskin was bruised and battered and the new wine the Lord wanted to give me poured away and went to waste. I thought I was beyond repair.

I was so exhausted that one day I found myself drawn by the Holy Spirit to sit by the well of living water with Jesus (see John 4:1–42). I sat there for a whole year, listening, receiving and letting go of my old nature and the person on whom I had come to rely to get me through tough times. Jesus gave me a new wineskin, filled will all the new things he wanted to give me and to do for him. I’m glad that I let go of my old ways!

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you that you love us so much that you want to give us new ways of living and serving. Amen

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