Friday, December 30, 2011

Mud + Water: Fresh Wineskins

You and I crave new beginnings. We long for that clean slate; what we want is always what we want to become. Is it because we know deep down there is a tragic flaw? There is a reason for cleanliness. There is a reason to rid ourselves of pieces of this life the way a snake sheds its skin. We were created with that perfect slate, our lives a beautiful canvas reflecting what is right: communion with God the Father. But our canvas has been torn, the clean white covered in blotted sin. Is that why we so desire new beginnings? 

I feel my heart swelling and I know that new beginnings come from a year gone by. I think, I can clean myself up. Start over. Time to do it right. But no matter how many "beginnings" I have in this life - no matter how many times I try and plaster on a new canvas on top of the broken one, I fail to see that beginnings aren't about creating the "better version of myself." New beginnings are about remembering and being renewed, refined, by the true reconciliation: Jesus at the cross. The Holy One doesn't tell us to clean ourselves up, he offers a new self. We don't have to stress over a pretty, cleaned up exterior this New Year.. someone who "has it all together." We get to relish in what He's already done! The new heart!

In the scriptures we can see over and over again how Jesus did the miraculous. He didn't just make right what was old, he made new.

"No one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins - and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins."
- Mark 2:22

"for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water." 
- Jeremiah 2:13

My New Year's Resolution: embrace the fountain of living water - to seek Christ's newness in me in fresh wineskins, allowing him to prune and put away the different ways I carve the cistern for myself that holds no water. 

What hope we have in Christ! 

7 comments:

  1. Mollie, I love this post. Mark 2:22 is one of my favorite verses. God wants to give us so much but if continue to try to use the old skin it will break or seep out. If we allow God to prune away the Junk and replace the old skin with new we will grow and the wine will not spoil. Great word.

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  2. MOLLIE I LOVE THIS POST! I will be linking my New Years post to this link! :) Love you && your amazing heart for Jesus.

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  3. Thanks Tracy! It is so true that growth comes from His giving and taking away.

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  4. Courtney, you are so sweet :) I love reading your blog!

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  5. Great post Mollie!! I just added you to my blogroll because you seem like a great role-model for young women. Beautiful with a heart for God:)

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  6. Audry, wow, thank you so much! That really means a lot. I love your blog, what a creative way to reach out and offer truth in such a needed way. I pray that God uses your posts in amazing ways and that women cling to him because of your words!

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  7. There is no better resolution than that!

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"Pleasant words are [like] honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Proverbs 16:24