He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
(Luke 5:36 NIV)
The old is not wrong and the new is not better.
The old and new compliment each other.
At least they should do.
Don’t destroy what He calls beautiful.
It may not be familiar.
It may smell and feel new.
It may lack what people would call substance.
There may be no heritage attached to it.
There may be no history but that doesn’t make it any less.
Envy or jealousy will criticise the new.
The old undermines the new to preserve the old.
The new dismantles the old.
The new mustn’t be sacrificed on the alter of the old.
You cannot relive your old life.
Don’t just stick to the previous simply because the future looks scary.
He is your everything.
Do you think He would let you down.
Yet if you are unwilling what can He do?
He will always love you but if you will not follow Him.
He will walk on without you.
He loves you but He is not overly sentimental.
Even through your most stubborn moments.
He doesn’t change.
Loving you every minute but not able to help you.
Out of love He asks you.
To surrender your past, your ambitions and desires.
All those things that you have guarded so carefully.
Believe He has so much more for you.
Fully embrace the new life.
Be intentional about following Him, daily.
When He does a new work in you you cannot simply keep the old and add it on.
He has called you to live a new life.
He is not patching you up to keep the old you going.
He is refining you.
He is in the business of offering you a new life.
The old has gone.
The new has come.
You are more precious to Him than any garment.
Give Him your all.
That means your dreams and desires and make them subservient to His dreams and desires.
He does enjoy giving you the desires of your heart.
He just wants you to be available.
Because you are the desire of His heart and wants His desires to be one and the same with yours.
He has the ability to merge the two but His is greater.
Remember, you owe Him your very life.
He deserves it all and yet does not take it forcefully from you.
Offer yourself as a living sacrifice.
It will be pleasing to Him and you will get all the benefits of His kingdom.
What was in the past is not to be considered bad.
But today is different.
You are meant to be different.
You will find that was familiar is no longer comfortable.
Like the garment there comes a time when it is not fit for purpose.
Don’t treat what is new with contempt and don’t consider the past as irrelevant.
Don’t ruin both by hanging on to both.
You will be pulled in both directions.
It will tear you to shreds.
Your mind, body and spirit will not be able to handle it.
Let go of the past and embrace the future present.
Don’t even try to work it out, let Him do that.
It is not so much God is just doing a new thing as if He were bored.
But rather it is part of the process of preparing the bride.
Enjoy the process and be part of it.
A bride without spot or wrinkle.
To be beautiful and radiant.
A glorious church bride.
You are part of the bride.
But He is talking about the whole bride.
Not just a few bits here and there.
