When I leave home, it is like living in New York City. The road in front of my house is filled with potholes - lots of potholes. Over the years, they have patched and scraped and filled in and patched. The city has an eternal contract of trying to keep my road filled in. Living in a small town has many wonderful advantages but it is nearly impossible to keep up with the roads due to the huge expense of maintenance. I understand that. As I pondered the road in front of my house, I realized what it needs is to be dug down to the foundation and completely replaced. Then a new layer of fresh asphalt is installed and a smooth surface would the finished result. The cost would be enormous but what a beautiful road it would be.
People are a lot like the road in front of my house. Life is filled with cracks, holes, and the daily grind of life. We patch this hole one day and then patch another the next day. We go through life trying to keep the road of our lives as smooth as possible but to no avail. After time, the patch jobs fail, the holes become larger and more repairs are needed. We cannot afford to repair the road ourselves because we do not have the knowledge or the ability to solve those problems. Our lives spin helplessly out of control until we finally realize the only solution to life is found in the One who can make straight our paths.
Coming to the Father is not a patch job - it is digging to the foundation of our lives and seeking a fresh renewal from Him. Paul illustrated this principle in Ephesians 4:24 - "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." The change in the life of the Christian is a total change. This new man is a removal of all the other layers of our desires and wishes and embracing the will of God in every part of our lives.
Many people try to patch their lives with Christ and find the road hard and difficult. Jesus said, "No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Luke 16:13). Following Jesus Christ is a removal of the old life and putting down a new life in Him. Merely patching life with a little bit of the Lord here and there will not take away the foundation of worldly mammon that hinders growth in Christ.
Lives become confused and difficult because we fail to see the need of complete surrender to the will of the Father. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself" (Luke 10:27). This is where we remove the layers of our heart, soul, strength and mind and replace it with the foundation of God. Putting on the new man is renewing ourselves in the knowledge His will and after the image of His will (Colossians 3:10).
It is a costly endeavor to repave our lives with Jesus Christ and the will of the Father. "So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsakes not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33). This is digging deep. We must remove self and replace it with the asphalt of God's will. He will make our way straight and He will make our way smooth. When our lives are filled with the challenges of doubt and fear, we can rest assured that God will make a way possible for us to endure and to do so with the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). "That [our] hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ" (Colossians 2:2).
By Kent Heaton
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