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June 1 The Tragedy of Old Wineskins “No one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.” Mark 2:22 I’ll never forget Steven. His twenty-three years had been hard on him, his arm scarred from the needle and his wrist scarred from the knife. His pride was his fist, and his weakness was his girl. Steve’s initial response to love was beautiful. As we unfolded the story of Jesus before him, his hardened face would soften and his dark eyes would dance. But his girlfriend would have none of it. Any changes Steve made would be quickly muffled as she would craftily maneuver him back into his old habits. We begged him to leave her. He was trying to put new wine into an old wineskin. He wrestled for days trying to decide what to do. Finally, he reached a conclusion. He couldn’t leave her. The last time I saw Steve, he wept . . . uncontrollably. The prophecy of Jesus was true. By putting his new wine into an old skin, it was lost. Think for a minute. Do you have any wineskins that need to be thrown out? Maybe yours is an old indulgence—food, clothes, sex. Or an old habit, like gossip or profanity. Or possibly, like Steve, an old relationship. Repentance means change. And change means purging your heart of anything that can’t coexist with Christ. You can’t put new life into an old lifestyle. The inevitable tragedy occurs. The new life is lost. On the Anvil
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