On August 20, 2019 a man was found on the side of the road frantically stuffing medical gauze into a baseball sized hole in his tire. After filling the hole with gauze, the man then proceeded to put bandaid after bandaid over that same baseball sized hole intending to keep air inside of the tire…I’m sure you will be surprised to read that it didn’t work. If only the complicated problems in our life could be fixed by bandaids, duct tape, and tie wire.
We Are in Need of Repair
The path God has you on will undoubtedly be filled with countless obstacles and struggles to overcome. We are a broken people and that brokenness is far more severe than a flat tire. Our broken state is one that is in desperate need of repair. The temptation is always there to attempt to fix this problem with a half hearted lazy approach. We’d like to just patch up our lives, put a bandaid on it and call it good enough. The problem is our brokenness will never be bound up in that way. Despite what we have heard and would desire to believe, some things require more attention and strength than a little duct tape.
Demolition
The human state is a gross thing. Our hearts are full of all kinds of rot and decay, and oftentimes in some state of disrepair. I have done a lot of remodeling where homes are also suffering from rot and decay. They have compromised integrity and are in desperate need of repair. Now, many homeowners would like it if those issues could simply be covered up, painted over and ignored. They desire beautiful, new, and improved homes, with fresh paint and all of the blemishes hidden but they desire it to be done while ignoring some of the most serious of problems. Or if they do decide to not ignore the problem, they are often not totally eliminated but are simply mitigated.
We know that the Christian life is one of continued sanctification, pursuit of greater holiness and Godliness day by day. We’re quick to say that we want spiritual growth and maturity, we just want it to be easy. We want the new and abundant life that Christ offers and we want it cost free. Many of us would say that our lives are in need of remodeling and repair spiritually speaking, but what we really mean is that we want it remodeled without disturbing or changing anything. That would be great. Do it without any demolition. Fix it up and make it better just don’t tear out any weak or rotten areas. We like those areas. They are important to us.
No Easy Way Out
God does not work that way. He requires that things are dealt with completely. The weak areas and sins in our lives do not get to be ignored or covered up, they are to be removed altogether, once and for all. We don’t like this. It will necessitate the pain and discomfort of God ripping away some of what we hold most dear. I don’t really like pain. Nor do I enjoy discomfort. I don’t like distress, hardships or unease. If given the chance I would avoid those things. If given the opportunity I would rather allow those weaknesses to remain. I would rather just put a bandaid on, cover it up and pretend it is okay, even when I know that the attempt of patching myself up will never suffice.
The Bible talks about taking care of the heart. It also discuss dealing things at the root level. The Bible speaks of a spiritual root that bears bitterness. (Deuteronomy 19:18) Jeremiah was told to “root out” sin (Jeremiah 1:10, and the prophet Malachi shows God dealing with the root of transgressions in the lives of His people. (Malachi 4:1) As people we would prefer to deal with the symptoms of our problems, but the problem with that is, like the stubborn weed in your garden, if we do not dig to the root it will return.
It’s a Problem with the Heart
There is a reason that God is so greatly concerned with people’s hearts. It is from the overflow of the heart that we speak and act. What is inside of us dictates how we live, what decisions we make. Dealing with a problem by throwing a bandaid on it may make things appear to look better on the outside, but on the inside things remain as broken and twisted as ever before.
For example, you may find that you are bitter towards someone in the church. This leads to disunity, anger, and awkwardness when around that person. An attempt to patch things up may be to simply distance yourself from that person. This may temporarily relieve some of the symptoms on the outside. It may appear as though you are: getting along, being of one mind, on mission together, and caring for each other. But it will be a short lived sham. The heart of the problem has not been addressed.
God is greatly concerned with the heart. He cares about what is really going on beneath the surface. He has no desire for us to simply try to cover up the problem areas in our lives in order to look as if we are whole and complete.
Matthew 23:27-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
Not the Easy Path
Dealing with things God’s way is harder. It means not always going for the simple fix. Although it will without question be more difficult, it is the only thing that is ultimately going to work. Don’t try to hide your brokenness. Let God expose all of it. Then let him rip it from your life and replace it with new strengthened materials. Ezekiel 36:26 “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Your old dead heart cannot be fixed by some duct tape. It must be fully removed. It is only when it is fully removed that God can replace it with a new heart leading to life.