Friday 2 Sep 2022

September 2: Luke 5:36-39

Key Verse: Luke 5:37
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.

Devotion:
This is one of those answers Jesus gave which causes more questions than answers to many people – it is only after trying to get to the bottom of what He is saying we begin to understand… but what does this relate to in our lives, after all we live in a throw-away society where old clothes are thrown away and new ones bought, and wine comes in screw-top bottles!

I believe Jesus was saying these things to make the people stop and think about why they were doing what they were doing! Much of the time we do things out of habit or because of tradition; after all isn’t it the way it has always been done! Jesus wanted the people to stop blindly following tradition and think about the real reason they did what they did!

Often we don’t think through the whole story and end up doing what others do or what is traditional to do. This is not what Jesus wants because that is doing things because of our worldly ways. Jesus wants us to think about the personal reasons for doing what we do. If we want to do something for God, then we should be making our work give glory to God and not just doing it because we think it’s what He wants!

When we do things because of tradition, we often end up messing up what we try to do and then we blame something or someone else because it “should have worked” like it always used to! Equally, when we often will not try something new in fear of it all going wrong. I think Jesus wants us to try new things to keep our lives with Him more interesting and to allow younger people to feel like they can get involved especially when they don’t like traditions!

Points to Ponder:
Are you traditional or contemporary?

Will you simply make room for God instead of worrying about traditions?