And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. Instead new wine must be poured into new wineskins. No one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is good enough.'” Luke 5:37-39 NET https://bible.com/bible/107/luk.5.39.NET

I am in India this week, where Christianity is a tiny minority religion among the people. Yet the gospel arrived here with the Apostle Thomas, one of the 12. The British too, where Christianity was the predominant religion, ruled here for almost 200 years, yet the church’s impact was negligible. The church has made little progress in this nation, and Hinduism is a very bad religion. It is an oppressive religion diving people into castes from which they can never leave during their present lifetimes. It elevates the animal to the gods, causing starvation and deprivation among the people who could enjoy these things as part of God’s provision for them. It never assures anyone of anything but demands obedience in the hope of a better future, not in this lifetime but in the one to come. Christianity is so much better. All people have equal value in Christianity. God only demands we love Him most and first and demonstrate that love by loving one another as we love ourselves. Simple though not easy for any of us. God promises hope and a future to us not based on our performance but on His performance appropriated to us. His burden is easy, and His load is light because He is humble and gentle among us. Yet this new wine is rejected by so many. The old is good enough, but it is so oppressive and destructive. What can the church do to win India to Christ? What can the church do to win America to Christ? The gospel must be shared and lived by God’s people. People must be prayed for and served to their benefit who don’t follow Jesus. At least these steps must be taken in greater fervency by God’s people if we will see more people following Jesus and ourselves fruitful in seeing His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.