New Wine
And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins. ~ MARK 2:22 (NLT)
My late wife was diabetic and wore an insulin pump. During her final week in the hospital, the nurse removed the pump, put it into “suspend mode,” and handed it to me saying, “Kim won’t be needing this.” Every 15 minutes, the pump beeps to remind you that it’s in suspend mode.
Over the past 31⁄2 years since Kim passed away, I’ve kept fresh batteries in the pump to keep it going. Its “beep BEEP beep” has a strange way of occurring at pointed moments, often when I am praying or reading the Bible. When one of these moments occurs, I usually record it in my journal.
In August, I was reading Mark 2:22, “... new wine calls for new wineskins.” As soon as I read the words “new wineskins,” the pump added an exclamation point by beeping.
After entering this event in my journal, I glanced upward to an entry I had written in April. The pump had beeped when I was reading Luke 5:37, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins.” Was it “coincidence” that the pump “happened to beep” on these two parallel passages from two different books, months apart? I don’t think so!
In the preparation for this Lenten season, we remember that God makes all things new, filling us with the new wine of hope. But we can’t see (or hear) the hope unless we keep our “spiritual batteries” fresh. And we can’t receive the hope unless we’re ready to change — to become “new wineskins.”
Losing my wife and becoming “single again” is constantly bringing change into my life. Some of these changes are especially difficult, and I tend to resist them. And yet my faith keeps growing. I’m grateful for God’s patience in molding my life into “new wineskins” and for His grace in pouring “new wine” into my life.
Gracious God, thank you for your patience. Even as we cling to our “old wineskins” and fail to see the hope that you offer, you keep knocking at the door of our hearts. During this Lenten season, help us to “renew our wineskins” so that we can receive the new life that you want to pour into us.
LARRY BAKELY, PITMAN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH