We could pick any spot on this earthly globe and find many who are suffering from brokenness. It plays no favorites. Whether you’re rich or poor, educated or illiterate, male or female, child or adult, many can identify with the few verses I have selected in the Psalms.

“I am forgotten as though I were dead; I have become like broken pottery.” (Psalms 31:12)

“I am exhausted and completely crushed. My groans come from an anguished heart.” (Psalms 38:8)

“Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none.” (Psalms 69:20)

Some try to find a way out through drugs, some through alcohol, others through a job, still others through sex, or maybe even through popularity. Each has their own demon to fight against, but they can’t win.

Little do we know sometimes what lurks behind a smile. Do the eyes dance with real peace and happiness or is sadness hidden deep within? Robin Williams comes to mind. He made millions laugh, but hid a deep sadness that came from being broken within.

Many people have reached the “end of their rope,” and just don’t see any worth to what they see in the mirror. They have let others down, even those they love, and despise what they have become. There seems to be no hope.

Other people can break us. Our own failures most certainly can bring us down to the pit of life. So what do we do? Know this. You may feel like the biggest failure on earth. You may feel unloved, unwanted, unappreciated and like you’re a hopeless cause, but there is a God in Heaven who loves you. This God, the one and only true God can make you whole and put a spring to your step.

Instead of continuing to be a broken vessel, be brokenhearted for the Lord God. By that we mean, lay out your heart before God and call on His Son Christ Jesus to give you a real meaning for living. Ask Him to forgive you and save you. He will give you eternal life and a reason to live as a new child of God. Listen to the Psalmist in the following verses.

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalms 34:18)

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalms 51:17)

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalms 147:3)

“He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. (Psalms 40:2)

If you’re looking for happiness, peace, real worth, there is nothing like the fellowship you can have with Him. He takes the most despicable of us and cleans us up, puts a new robe upon us and breathes real joy into our life. Our spirit is made new in Him, and through Him we have everything to live for in this life and the promise of spending eternity with Him when we leave this world.

Again, notice what David says in this passage from Psalms.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.

For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust. (Psalms 103:1-5, 12-14)

The world tells us to think highly of ourselves. Everything is about us. The world revolves around us. But God calls that self-righteousness and it is good for nothing. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6) Instead, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3)

The world tells us to put ourselves first, but until we put Him first, we will never have the peace and joy He desires for us.“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)

Only Jesus can take away the demons that are destroying our lives. In Him there is life, but there is only death in the crutches we use that keep us broken.

Ask Him to come into your heart and save you. He will. No child of God is a broken vessel. We are a child of the King, and we are important to Him, so important, He gave Himself a sacrifice so that we could have eternal life.

Grant Phillips

Email: grantphillips@windstream.net

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com

Matthew, Mark and Luke give us the account of Jesus’ analogies of the old and new cloth and the old and new wineskins. I love it when the Lord provides us different accounts, three in this case, of the same incident. It’s like three different people taking a photograph from different angles. All are accurate, but with different perspectives. So we get a broader understanding of the account. Since we weren’t there, and they were, it provides us a better understanding of what took place and what was said. So let’s read of this as witnessed by Matthew, Mark and Luke.

“Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:14-17 NIV)

“Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” (Mark 2:18-22 NIV)

“They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.” 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. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’” (Luke 5:33-39)

Obviously, attaching a new piece of cloth to an old piece of cloth won’t work. The aging and wear and tear of the old cloth will eventually tear away and disintegrate from the new cloth.

As for the wineskins, the people of that day would use animal skins to keep wine because of the elasticity of the animal skins. That was important because as the wine fermented, it would expand, but would not burst through the animal skins due to the elasticity.

So what does all this have to do “with the price of beans,” as my wife sometimes says? To answer that, let’s go back to the original question asked by John’s disciples and the Pharisees. (By the way, these particular disciples of John were not the same who left John and followed Jesus. These particular disciples stayed with John.)

The original question was, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?” Also notice from Luke that John’s disciples and the Pharisees were also praying. So they were all fasting and praying while Jesus’ disciples were doing neither. Then Jesus’ seemingly out of nowhere provides them these two analogies of the old and new cloth and the old and new wine. It seems on the surface that Jesus pulled these analogies out of thin air and they are totally unrelated, but are they? Not by a long shot.

Jesus was telling them by these analogies that it is time to rejoice because the Bridegroom is here. His disciples did not fast or prayer, because there was nothing to be somber or sad about. However, the time would come, at the cross, when the Bridegroom would be taken away. Then, at that time, they could fast and pray.

John’s disciples and the Pharisees were not recognizing who stood before them. They were still clinging to the old, the old hope that the Messiah would come. But alas! He was standing in their midst! Don’t fast! Don’t pray! Worship! He is here!

And there’s more. The time had come that the Old Covenant of works was being replaced by the New Covenant of grace. The old rituals and ceremonial fastings were quickly coming to an end. A new day was developing in which God would deal with people differently. The dispensation of the Church age was preparing to arrive on the scene, and it would be introduced at the cross, and then fulfilled at Pentecost with the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

In the meantime, the Bridegroom had certainly arrived, but His departure would be soon after the sacrifice of Himself for the sins of all mankind. The Savior had come, and would soon be leaving, but would be sending His Spirit too indwell all those who believed on Him, the Son of God.

So Jesus message to them was, “It is now time to rejoice, not to fast. Put aside the old rituals and ceremonials and rejoice with my disciples.” That is His message today also. Are we rejoicing or still tied up with old rituals and ceremonies?

The apostle Paul said about thirty years later, “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17)

John’s disciples and the Pharisees were still walking in the “shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” Many today are doing no differently than these disciples in question.

To me, it is like sitting outside on a cloudy day as opposed to sitting outside on a sunny day, feeling the warmth on your face. I for one would much rather enjoy a beautiful sunny day. Have you ever noticed how a cloudy day and a sunny day affect your personality? Our very being is always happier on a sunny day as opposed to a cloudy day.

This tells me that those who understand and live in the freedom that only Christ can give are the truly happy folks. The others are curmudgeons.

Let us not mix the new life of grace in Christ Jesus and His Holy Spirit with the works of old rituals and meaningless ceremonies. Jesus lives, and it is time to rejoice, not fast.

Grant Phillips

Email: grantphillips@windstream.net

Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com