For the last couple of months, I have been running – to my job, school, home, and my responsibilities. I have recognized that I am in an unfamiliar season — a new one if you will. Which sounds great because who doesn’t like new things, new places, and new beginnings. However, I have been more stressed, frustrated, and anxious during this season. The ways I handled situations in the past are not working. The ways I studied before are no longer effective in these more rigorous classes. The time that I used to get up in the morning is no longer conducive to my new schedule.
There is always an urge to cling to your former experiences whenever a new one approaches. But what happens when your prior knowledge becomes a handicap? How does Jesus want me to handle new things?
In the fifth chapter of Luke, Jesus is assembles the disciples. Simultaneously, He is healing people and giving insight into the difference between grace and the law. “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins”(Luke 5:37), is a common verse mentioned when discussing change. Jesus is illustrating that there are different means that pair with different vessels. I relate it to mindset and potential because one can limit the other. And mixing only leads to loss “for the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skin (Luke 5:37). He is reiterating the concept of sameness, one can only fit with its equal. So what am I losing by approaching my new season with former behaviors and methods?
His peace. The stress, frustration, and anxiety were a product of not trusting in God and trying to apply former methods in a new season. He gave me new wine, new grace, new favor but I stored it in my self-effort. Giving me a short burst of achievement but a lingering taste of burnout. I was forsaking “the peace that surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7), because I wasn’t abiding in him. I could not believe that I could do all these things I was called to in my own flesh and I can’t. But I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me(Philippians 4:13).
Walking in that revelation has not relinquished the pressure of this season but has restored the rest I have in my Heavenly Father. Adaptability has become a close brother rather than a distant cousin. The old life is gone; a new life has begun (2 Corinthians 5:17). Make room for new thoughts, new habits, and new lifestyles. Let the stretch of change allow God to prune you and give a glimpse of the manifestations of prayers uttered long ago. Believe in the equipment God has given you for this job. You may not be familiar with this path or know where it is leading you but that is the point of a new season – to produce a new harvest. A new harvest provides new grapes for new wine. A new wine for every season.
