Wow, our guardian angels were working overtime this evening, Father! You hand was surely with us as we journeyed back from Newark on very treacherous roads. The glory goes to You for getting us all back safely home!

Mark 2:22 (<<click to read the passage)

Since our son, Massey, has been in grad school in Texas, we have visited him several times. Most often we have a layover at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. If you’ve been there you know that they have Skylink, an automated people mover, a train-like mode of transportation. There are a few seats but many just stand, as they travel from one end of the airport complex to the other.

Now if you choose to stand, the one thing you can do is to stand with a rigid posture with your legs pressed together. There are lots of curves and many stops and starts. Doing so will cause you to topple over in short order. You have to be flexible – legs spread apart so that you can bend and move as that moment demands. And in doing so, you stand firm and do not topple over.

That is a very similar idea to Jesus’ illustration of old and new wineskins. Old wineskins had already been stretched and over time had become rigid. New wineskins, on the other hand, were pliable, flexible and as new wine was poured into them they were able to stretch and move as fermentation caused the wine to expand.

The Pharisees? They were confined to the old wineskins – no room for growth or change. The Gospel – the Good News – that Jesus proclaimed was for new wineskins.

Jesus calls us today, but we have to be flexible. We have to be open to change. The Apostle Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “…that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”

Lord Jesus, help me to not be hard and rigid. As I get older it is more and more easy for me to get stuck in my ways – to avoid change. As my study Bible says, may I “keep my heart pliable and open to accepting [Your] life-changing truths.” In Your strength and wisdom, may I stand firm and so as not to topple over! Amen.

*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation

Feb 10th, 2019, Sun, 9:04 pm