for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.” (Jesus, Mathew 9:16)
You and I manage and rework everything in life with a goal
of making things better. Our life and job,
even relationships, are often a patchwork of trying to make things better. It comes as no shock that Scripture settles
into the soul of people, such as Lesslie Newbigin, who remind us that “You
can’t renew things by patching. You have to accept the fact that the old is
old, and you have to be ready for what is radically new.” Life ends up ripping apart when we respond by
sewing together a patchwork of fragmented fixes. Let the change rooted in the Lord’s desire
for you become a truth. God works by pouring
out a holy influence of change over you, a change to change, not patch, you and
give you an opportunity to “have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
Paul reminds Christ followers that “truth is in Jesus, to
put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life” (Eph.
4:21-22) and, thereby, be new in Christ – there must be change, not a patch
job. Paul continues, with a something we
to accept, you and I are “to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put
on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and
holiness” (vv. 23-24). That’s a lot of
effort to believe and ask God to renew your mind. But, to accept the new God has prepared for
you is to open a door that is for something more than you were, are, or ever
hoped to find by with a new patch. The
Lord Jesus has placed His Spirit in you with an empowering gift that enables you
to know how to “be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you
may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans
12:2). Know God’s will for you, it’s not
a patch, but perfect renewal for living the abundant life.
Transformed by the Spirit and not by my patchwork,
Owen
<><
