No Patches

Not too long ago, my daughter bought a very expensive distressed T-shirt from a local store. It was army green with holes torn in it to make it look old and vintage.

She went to her grandmother's house and changed clothes, leaving her T-shirt laying across the bed. Her grandmother found it, saw the holes, and decided to take an old white sheet, cut pieces out of it, and sew them as patches over the holes. Needless to say, Jorja was outwardly grateful, but dying on the inside.

In Luke 5, Jesus has invited Matthew to follow Him. Matthew leaves everything because he knows what an honor this invitation is. Some of the Pharisees ask why Jesus and His disciples would eat with "sinners". Jesus replies, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:31)

Jesus calls sin a sickness. Why? Because sin is to be so foreign to our personhood, that it is like a disease, eroding our being. He invites all to repent: to change their mind about how they are perceiving their lives, so that they can be awakened to real life in Him.

But why did He say not the righteous? I mean, of all people, wasn't it the Pharisees who thought they were the self-righteous ones and needed Jesus the most? Here's the truth: until you realize what kind of sinner you really are, there will be no real repentance.

Until you realize what kind of sinner you really are, there will be no real repentance.

Jesus then goes on to talk about a new patch on an old garment and new wine in old wineskins. Trying to put new on old won't work. Trying to patch up the old, won't work. Jesus was saying that you can't take this new good news about the Kingdom and squeeze it into the old mold of tradition and religiousity. ALL things must become new.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

Jesus says "No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins." (Luke 5:38)

So for us to come into the Kingdom of Heaven, we must become new in every way. We must slough off the old mindsets that obstruct our new way of life in Christ. We can't add the Kingdom mindset to the old Pharisaical mindset. Jesus wants no more patches.

NO MORE PATCHES

Jesus also says this: "And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”(Luke 5:39) This is a warning that many will succumb to the deception of the old, believing that it is better than the new. It will be easier to stay with the old than change and BE changed in the new.

This begs that each of us ask ourselves a few questions:

1. Do you realize that your sin is a sickness that Jesus wants to heal completely?

2. Do you understand that repentance is to be embraced and a daily action as sin is revealed to us?

3. Have you simply added Jesus to an old way of thinking and believing instead of the old being put away?

4. Are you willing to say to the Lord, "No More Patches"?

Because I can promise you this, when ALL is new, everything changes.

You are loved,

Jena