I’m prone to settle into a practice of what I know and am used to. My preconceived expectations often blind me to the unexpected moving of His kingdom. The fog and cloudiness of how I view the Spirit’s work limits my own joy and peace. My tendency is to reduce my faith, hope and love to my made up rules, reinforcing my self sufficient independence. Jesus teaches that Hs wants to do something new in our lives and we need to be ready for what He will show us.
“The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves. We are controlled by the lord of our life.” - Rebecca Manley Pippert, Out of the Saltshaker & into the World: Evangelism as a Way of Life
“The implication in these teachings was Jesus and the kingdom represented something new. The kingdom was more than repairing or improving the old—the image of patching a tear. It was replacing the old with that which was new and different.
The images in both teachings—the wedding celebration, new wine—point to the joy and freedom of life in the kingdom. The old ways of thinking and their practices could not express the joy and freedom of this new life. The ferment of the new bursts the old wineskins of religious expectations, prohibitions, rigid thinking, and control. The limitations of the old had to give way to the freshness, ferment, freedom, and joy of life in the kingdom.” - Excerpt From
Following Jesus: Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark by Steve Langford
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