Patches Don't Work

³⁶ He also told them a parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise, not only will he tear the new, but also the piece from the new garment will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will spill, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ But new wine should be put into fresh wineskins.
-Luke 5:36-38 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

We've been talking about our life before and after Christ. We've talked about characteristics of both. We also talked about why it is important to put away the old characteristics, and put on the new life in Christ. I read these verses the other night during my devotions, and thought they went along with what we've been talking about.

Jesus said, "No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise, not only will he tear the new, but also the piece from the new garment will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, it will spill, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine should be put into fresh wineskins." There's an important principle that Jesus taught here, and I think it applies to what we've been looking at the past few days. You can't combine your new life in Christ with your old life of sin. Jesus said that we can't put a new patch from a new garment on an old garment. It will not match. The patch will stick out like a sore thumb. Everyone will notice. Likewise, you can't put new wine in an old wineskin. Why? The old wineskin cannot support the new wine. It will bust, and the new wine will be wasted.

What's this got to do with us? Well, if we try to use a new garment (our new life in Christ) to patch an old garment (our life of sin), the two garments will not match, and the new garment will be torn and destroyed. You can't keep parts of your old life of sin, while trying to live a new life in Christ. Too many of us try to do just that. We keep the things we hold dear, or the things we really enjoy out of our life of sin, while trying to live the new life in Christ. It just can't be done.

Are you trying to live in the new life of Christ, while holding on to some of the things that characterized your life before Christ? If so, then confess it, turn from it and allow Jesus to fill in the voids. Think About It.