The Alpha of the New

UV 3098/10000 The Alpha of the New
No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse
Matthew 9 v 16
We should take care not to mix traditions of the old covenant or of religion with the new freedom we have under the new covenant of love. We cannot selectively apply the teachings of Jesus for then our lives would look like patch work of new stitched onto the old. Instead, we are expected and called to be new creatures in Christ with new attitudes, new values, new priorities. We are completely renewed in God’s grace and no part of our old sinful selves should be mixed up in it. For instance, we cannot say we have experienced the grace and love of Jesus in having our own faults and shortcomings forgiven while we continue to be judgemental about others.
We cannot also mix man-made rules with our new life of spirituality. Like the prodigal son who has been restored by the Father’s love, we have no sense of entitlement in the kingdom of God. We realize that we have been saved by grace from beginning to the end and that we have no merit of ourselves in the eyes of the Lord. No more can we accept some part of our lives to be governed by the world and some other parts to be governed by the word. Our entire world is circumscribed and contained in the word.
We are to be firm in our beliefs but flexible in the rules we apply to others. We should not burden them with the memory of their past deeds and its consequences. We cannot follow double standards, judging ourselves leniently and others too severely. Like Jesus, we need to see the inner need of people with compassion and the desire to bless and heal them. Since we have passed from death and judgement to eternal life and freedom, we must extend these privileges of grace to all others around us.