Daily Devotion January 27

January 27: Luke 5:36-39

KJV Key Verse: Luke 5:39
No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith , The old is better.

Devotion:
I find it interesting that Jesus brought up this parable about not mixing the new and the old together when the Scribes and Pharisees tried once again to trick Him into making a mistake. When we look at the way in which our churches change over time we should also be thinking of the effects of change in the people. We may want to cling on to the old ways, or want to bring in new ways and chuck out the old ways; but when we do we are not thinking about the deeper impact on the people that already are the church.

The church is the people together as one body worshiping God. If we cling to the old ways as described in the Old Testament then we have to live by those rules and accept them as they are. We are then guilty before God and need to rectify that through the ways described in the Old Testament. This just does not work when we know we have made so many other changes which we may want to keep…

If we are going to accept change in one part of the church then we have to accept the change will affect other parts and we have to live with those resulting changes. Just as the parable says that new wine cannot be placed in old wineskins, we realise that new ways in the church cannot hope to succeed in the old church establishment. Just as the new wine will burst the old, inflexible skins, the new ways will break the old church because it does not want change.

If we want change then we have to make sure we can grow with the changes and not leave out the parts we don’t want to change. Just as we look at the practical ways of the world in dealing with wineskins, we should also look at the practical ways of the church to find out how we can deal with change. God does not want us to stagnate or turn into introverts fearing change. God wants us to change but also to keep Him in the middle of our lives.

Points to Ponder:
Are you ready for change?

Will you change with God?