Renewed Wine Skins

Matt. 9:17 Nor do they put new  wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins (renewed) , and both are preserved.

Jesus was the Master story teller, often employing metaphors and anecdotes the average person would understand the point He wanted to make.  This scripture reveals the heart of the Father’s concern for wine and for the wine skins.

The new wine can be viewed as the Gospel, as He was speaking to the Jewish people about a “new wine” far superior to “old wine” of the Law.  For the wine skins to receive and retain new wine, they had to be “renewed”, I’ve discovered it’s on a consistent basis for me.

Wine skins become hard, brittle and can crack through over exposure to the elements of the world.  Bitterness, competition, critical spirits, offenses, unforgiveness, grudges and misunderstandings to name a few.

Renewed wine skins are the result of consistently rubbing oil and water to make them pliable and soft, able to retain the “new wine”.  The water of the Word of God and the fresh oil of the Holy Spirit applied daily to our skins enable us to restore relationships, reconciliation and divine perspective/vision.

The Lord is concerned about both, the wine and skins!  As we remain soft and discerning we too can receive the fresh wine.  That’s for me!