Spiritual Mechanics

“No one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.”
- Matthew 9:16-18 (NLT)

Several years ago, I owned a Ford Escort. When I bought it, I purchased an extended service contract that would cover many parts of the car should anything go wrong. Well it wasn’t too long after buying the car, that I found myself taking advantage of the service contract. The Motor Mount (a major part) went out and was covered by the contract. Unfortunately, what caused the Motor Mount to go out in the first place was not. The engine had a transmission fluid leak. The reservoir holding the transmission fluid had a hole in it and as a result was leaking all over the Motor Mount. It was like acid, eating right into the metal and slowly consuming the Motor Mount. If the leak wasn’t fixed, putting in a new one would only be an exercise in futility. The new Motor Mount would be ruined in a very short amount of time.

I told the dealership that I was broke and not able to pay for anything, not even to have the leak fixed. They then decided to cover the cost of repairing the leak, tying it in with the Motor Mount replacement. They decided it would be less expensive in the long run (for the dealership), to fix the leak now than to have me come back in six weeks and get another Motor Mount at the dealership’s expense. While this story sounds like a lesson in auto mechanics, I believe there’s a spiritual lesson to be gained from it as well.

You see, sometimes we may have major problems in our lives that we’re trying to take care of; Depression, anger issues, addictions of all sorts, etc. But they’re often caused by some little things we’ve allowed into our lives. If we don’t find out what those little things are and take care of them, then we’ll never be able to fix the major problems. I think what Jesus was trying to say with the story of the wine
and the wineskins, is what I’m trying to say with the story of the Motor Mount and the transmission fluid leak.


When we seem to be having major problems in our lives, that’s when we need to pray. We need to ask God to show us if there might be some little things that we have allowed into our life and now need to get rid of. I can’t tell you what those little things are, because what might be causing me problems may not be causing you problems. Just pray. Ask God to show you what those little things are and to help you get them out of your life. He will if you ask Him to.


“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” - James 1:5 (NIV)