Jesus Not Work For You?

Ever try Jesus to only find that He did not work for you? 

The question sounds strange, but that is exactly what happens for many people.  They gave Him a try and it just did not stick.  Attended church, prayed, was baptized, read the Bible and did all the things everyone told them, but after about 3 weeks, nothing. 
What happened?  Not exactly sure about every situation but it causes me to ask a question:  Are you pouring new wine into old wineskins?  Let me explain. 
Matthew, an early follower of Jesus, records a parable that Jesus told.  It is about what would happen when they would pour new wine into old wineskins.  They did not have glass bottles in Jesus’ day so they had to figure out a way to contain wine besides clay jars.  Some guy looked at a small goat one day grazing in the meadow and thought, “Hey.  That may work.”  So in a few days, Voila!  A wineskin.  I imagine the village named a street after him.  It must have worked though I am not sure how. 
One problem with wineskins was that they had a shelf life.  After a while, they began to get brittle and would crack.  The gases of new wine required the skin to be flexible so it could stretch.  If it did not, then be prepared to wipe up the wine off of the floor.  Old skins and new wine was a mess. 

Jesus was teaching us that when He pours His new life into a person’s life, then that person needs a new structure to hold it.  A person cannot keep going and doing as he was prior to Christ if he wants life change.  Following Christ is not an emotional moment.  It is the beginning of a new life that requires new patterns and new relationships.  It means creating a new structure of everyday life.  It means that an alcoholic cannot keep going to the bars.  A pornographer cannot keep going to R rated movies.  A gossip cannot continue talking on the phone.  An adulterer cannot hold onto that relationship.   

So if you tried Jesus and you think He did not work, then here’s an invitation to go further with it and give Him a new structure into which He can pour His life.  Make the choices that will put you in new places and relationships.  And as you do, His new life will flourish.