Prayer: Gracious God, teach us how to be humble through your Word. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Making the old new
…one puts new wine into fresh wineskins. (v. 22)
Fasting is a lost practice for many, including me. I have known a few Christians who have practiced fasting on special occasions. I believe it has a place on our walk of faith, but I keep forgetting about it, and because I am not aware of anyone doing it these days. Some practice fasting during Lent as a part of their preparation for Easter.
Our devotion writer says that “fasting didn’t make me feel more repentant or help me behave better, so I didn’t see the point.” Jesus’ disciples did not fast like the followers of John the Baptist. Fasting was no longer necessary according to Jesus, at least while He was with them. However, Jesus said that there would be fasting once Jesus was taken away.
Fasting in that day was part of repentance. It can also work for us today, but in addition our devotion writer now practices fasting in order to be more aware of Jesus’ presence. It is a discipline, a humbleness, a way of changing our habits in order to focus more to “recognize Jesus and rejoice in his presence. I do not enjoy fasting, but I do enjoy the effect it has on my spiritual health. It renews my wineskin, if you will, so that when the Holy Spirit enters in, I can keep growing as God’s child.”
Prayer: “Jesus, train me to rejoice in your presence each day. In your name. Amen.”
Mark 2:18-22
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
The Question about Fasting
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
21 “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”
Gary's Devotion Comments 
The issue of fasting vs. not fasting came up every year at Lent, in my hometown — Lutherans (and a smattering of other Protestants) vs. Catholics. I came to understand that fasting too often led to one being focused on oneself, rather than on Christ. Personal discipline, for me, came through making regular prayer times. That often came on the back of a horse. I would saddle up and ride out of town, giving my mind and spirit free rein to take in all of the beauty God created, as well as to share all of my concerns and joys and any other issues with Him. I have fasted, each time doing so in order to see what the result would be. While fasting has its merits, my personal experience with it has never produced the same closeness as the discipline of prayer. Today, my horse comes equipped with four wheels on the open road, rather than four legs in the open countryside; but the resultant spiritual connection is just as real.