New Wine in old Whineskins?

My brother sent me this drawing. I always knew they were "closet bikers"!

Obviously, things are not always what they seem to be, but sometimes that's true just because we're looking for the wrong things. I have been amazed at how my perspective on the Word of God has changed through the years. For too many years it was my "proof" book - my ammunition to shoot down the doctrinally misled and to bolster the acceptable orthodoxy of my group. Then it became a treasure - a pearl of great price, that I examined, polished, and started discovering the richness of God's Spirit all through it. I shook off some old baggage and discovered some new wine that needed to be place in a new heart-shaped wineskin. And when I started looking for Jesus - not at Him or about Him - but Him, what the Spirit was wanting me to see in every verse of every book in the Bible, it turned into a brand new Book. Did you realize that 1 Corinthians is about Jesus? The book that has been the battle ground for so many issues in the church - so many divisions, is really about forgetting our differences and focusing on Jesus. How ironic is that? How sad is that?

Two things that will change forever how you read scripture: 1) Always look for Jesus. What is the writer saying about Him? What is the Spirit really pointing to? What do you need to take away from the passage that will help you have "the mind of Christ"? 2) Remember how tough this all must have been for God. What? If you just consider how incredibly difficult, even impossible is must have been for God to communicate spiritual concepts, spiritual truths, and even the spiritual world, to folks who are totally worldly - you realize that we were never meant to understand everything. That is why the basics of what God wants - has aways wanted- is and has been wonderfully simple. Love Him with all our heart and love our neighbor as we love our self. It's there, in print, simple as can be - from cover to cover. Eternity, the end of time, what's going to happen, what we will look like, what will heaven be like, what is a perfect spiritual body, etc, etc...are all things that we probably can't comprehend even if He gave us more information. Did you ever notice John 3:12 while on your way to verse 16? Jesus said to Nicodemus, "I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?" Match that with the total mix-up of wisdom vs. foolishness in 1 Corinthians 2-3 and you begin to see that "We were never meant to get it all!" How can limited power, time, and space understand limitless power, time, and space? What we know about the nature of God wouldn't fill a celestial thimble! But it's enough! Enough to know, believe, live, be godly, and build a relationship with One who gave it all to us. Enough to see His Word as the love letter, marriage license, and life-guide He meant for it to be.

Yeah, it - the Book - hasn't changed a lick, but praise God I have. I can't wait to see what I'll discover next!