Free from “Am I Doing Enough for God?”
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins.”
Mark 2:22
Have you ever wondered what Jesus was referring to when He shared on the new wine and old wineskins? He was referring to the mixture of the two covenants. The new wine represents the new covenant of grace, while the old wineskin represents the old covenant of law. Have you ever seen old wineskins? They are brittle, hard, and inflexible. That’s the law. It is inflexible. And when you pour the new wine of grace into the old wineskin of the law, you will lose both because the wineskin will be ruined and the wine will be spilled. The virtues of both the old and the new covenants will be cancelled out and lost.
I received a letter from Kirsten in Florida who experienced a mixture of law and grace. When she received her salvation at the age of seventeen, she experienced unconditional love for the first time in her life as God’s mercy and grace washed over her. In the beginning, she said that church was a joy as they worshiped, shared, and prayed. But within a few years, she succumbed to a works mentality and began searching the Scriptures to discover what she needed to do. Having lost her joy and peace, she was tormented by thoughts of “not doing enough for God.”
Kirsten’s hope was reignited when she chanced upon one of my television broadcasts. She said, “That tiny spark of hope later burst into flames and set me free. Wow! God’s grace is real and it doesn’t depend on my ‘doing enough for Him.’ No more works that are motivated by guilt and shame that left me exhausted, overwhelmed, and drained. My peace and joy returned a hundredfold, and I was able to relax and enjoy my relationship with God, my family, and my church.”
That wasn’t all. Her revelation of God’s grace put a newfound peace and rest in her heart such that when the economic downturn in 2008 wrecked America financially and affected her family, she chose to rest and believe that God would provide for her family. “I prayed one morning for God to give us something that day based solely on His grace and not our efforts,” she said. “Less than thirty minutes later, my husband’s former employer called him and asked if he wanted his old job back! My husband now earns as much as he did in his best year prior to the downturn. God’s grace is amazing!”
Beloved, don’t allow a mixture of law and grace to invade your heart and mind. God hates mixture because it robs you of the freedom, peace, and joy that come from resting in His Son’s finished work. It robs you of the power to reign in life through the abundance of His grace! You cannot put new wine into old wineskins. You will lose both. But if you just focus and meditate on His grace and goodness toward you and your family, like Kirsten, you will see His grace abundantly provide for you.