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Stop Trying To Patch Up Your Old Life
"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.'" — Luke 5:36
Think about your favorite, most worn-out piece of clothing. It’s comfortable, it’s familiar, but eventually, the fabric gets so thin that a simple thread can no longer hold it together. Spiritual exhaustion happens the same way. We spend so much energy trying to sew quick fixes onto our lives. It is no wonder we feel so frayed.
Jesus warns that trying to tear a piece of fabric from a brand-new garment just to patch an old, worn-out one is a double disaster. First, you ruin the new garment. Second, the patch won't match, and when it shrinks, it will tear the old fabric even worse.
Jesus didn't come to be a cosmetic upgrade for our old lifestyle. He didn't come to patch up our flaws. He came to give us an entirely new life.
When we insist on "patching up our old life," we are telling God that we want His blessings, His peace, and His forgiveness, but we want to keep our old bad habits. We want the comfort of the gospel without the transformation of the cross.
We should stop exhausting ourselves trying to repair with patches what God wants to replace with grace. We should let go of the old garment of self-reliance, guilt, and temporary fixes. It is better to step out of the old and allow God to clothe us with a new life instead of trying to patch up an old one that no longer pleases God.
Rev. Margaret Minnicks
"I choose joy because I have given up my patches."
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