New Wine into New Wineskins;

     I like antiques. I like anything that is from another era that shows something different than I am aquainted with. I remember when  was a teen looking at an old Victrola in mint condition and begging my mother if we could have it. Along with 78's of Enrico Caruso it enthralled me.  I like old cars and old machinery.  I also now have a fondness for studying history of which I absolutely hated in my high school because I didn't know any and didn't care too.
     So why am I in this vein of thought today? It's because along with an appreciation of the old I am aware of the newness of life that Jesus brings on a daily basis. Jesus is the exact opposite of the Law of Entrophy which states that everything in a high order then decays into a state of disorder.  Thermodynamics or something like that.  But that is where Jesus is radically different. He rose from the dead.  From state of willful sacrifice and beating at the hands of angry men uncontrolled in their zeal of a belief system that was challenged.  Why? Because the incarnate God wanted to do something new for us.    In his parable of the wineskins being burst by new wine which the old could not tolerate It is a telling parable.  In effect, change. You in the state you are in that being old cannot accept the new (Holy Spirit) without becoming a new wineskin.   All of the old attitudes, and our mindset and the state of our  sinfullness cannot exist or coexist together.  Repentance is needed and we have to die to our self will inorder to be an acceptable vessel for the new birth.  It is a 360 change, a turn around from everything and anything that is opposite in our nature.  Want to be first, then be last. Want to be great in the kingdom then become a servant.  Want to see God, then become pure in heart.  Want to inherit the Kingdom of God then become meek. And so on.  Positional thinking goes nohwere in this Kingdom.  Witness the two who wanted to be granted the seats of right and left beside Christ.  What was his answer. Can you drink of the cup I am about to drink from?  So if you like old things like I do, think again about also the newness required to enter into a kingdom radically different than what we think it is.  If you are allied with the world and it's ways the gate is wide, and narrow for those who find life and want to keep it.