Good morning people who embrace change when God is in it,

(By Helen Calder – on team at DMM)

Matthew 9:14-17 ^‘Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

The spiritual lives of John the Baptist’s disciples are characterised by withdrawal and fasting. They observe Jesus and His disciples going to where the common people live life—to homes and gatherings, dinners and parties.

‘Why?’ they ask.

Jesus responds, “There has been a change of season, and this is the way we are doing things at this time.”

A new season requires a new way of living! Someone once said, “God never changes. He is always doing something new!” What does that mean for you right now, or for this coming year?

By using the illustration of the wineskins, Jesus is saying. ‘Are you open to doing things differently? Are you open to letting go of the old ways and methods that worked in the past?

The difference between an old and a new wineskin was apparently not in age, but in flexibility. An old wineskin could be renewed through being rubbed with oil.

There may be something in your life right now or up ahead that will require a flexible approach to change.

If you find change in your life difficult, pray about it. Allow the presence of the Holy Spirit to soften and prepare your heart today.

(Today’s BIY written by Helen Calder)