New

I will continue on the theme of inner change today. When we come to have an encounter with the eternal and everlasting God, Jesus, this is just the beginning of change. We need to do more than just have that one experience of decision to believe. We need to change our old personality into a new one. We must change our inner person so that we can live a concious and creative life.

“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.” Matthew 9:17

Our lives will not be "preserved" in Christ unless we take our decision and place it into a new life. To make a decision to become a Christ follower and try to live the life that we have always lived, with no work on changing the inner person, is like trying to place new wine into old wineskins. To take our new life, our "new birth," and attempt to keep the same inner life will lead to our spiritual downfall. We "burst" with the pressure of trying to keep rules that we do not understand or own for ourselves. We are attempting to just follow the crowd and we live in the unconscious obedience that we talked about yesterday. How many people do we see walk away from their life of faith because of the hypocrisy within their own life? You see people blame the hyprocrisy of people in the church for the reason they leave or do not live a life of faith. However, they are really saying that the life of faith is a life they find too much pressure in because they have refused to take the inner journey that is required to find their life in God. They really do not want to let go of their ego. When we do not take the journey to really become a disciple - one who embraces the teachings of Jesus - and do not want to embrace, really know, the teachings of Jesus the Christian path and way of life becomes one of anxiety and not joy.

Find the joy in taking an inner journey to really be born again. Be a follower of Jesus that truly embraces his teachings. Do not live in unconscious obedience, but be conscious of become new in every way in your life. Be new everyday. Place your life in a new skin.

Namaste'