That's the sound a tire makes when it's punctured.
Recently, our faithful family sports wagon [I call her Lady Blue] had a rusty nail jammed into one of her aging black shoes. Upset, she was, to be staggering on a broken heel, so we decided to get her all fixed up for her next date on the road. Tonight, while reflecting on life, I remembered Lady Blue's right rear shoe and how tedious the repair was: remove wheel from car, remove tire from wheel [which was pretty cool], locate the breach, seal the breach [ a process that is much longer than the three-word statement implies], wait, wait, wait...wait, check tire for more breaches, smile with approval, reunite tire with wheel, reunite wheel with car. In about 20 minutes, the Lady was no longer a one-quarter Tramp. Good as new...or so the surface implied.
You see, although she now has another forty to sixty days added to her patched shoe, the damage done really isn't gone. It's still there. Just covered up. Furthermore, although the patchwork was done from the inside-out, due to its frailty, what's to say another intrusion won't occur in the same spot? But hey, what do I know? As Paul said, I speak as a man.
What I do know is this: many times we go to God for our regular patchwork, but never for the new tire. We engross ourselves in spiritual boosts in the form of music, a little devotional, a chat with a good friend, or maybe a quick prayer to Talk the guilt away. Humans are burdened beings; they really are, and it's because of our luggage that Jesus sends out a special invitation to all who will heed: come and rest [Matthew 11:28 - 30]. What's key [and quite ironic] about this passage is that, while calling us into relief, Christ actually urges us to latch His yoke around our necks; but (!) it's in doing this that we actually find the rest we need. And that, right there, is the issue we sometimes miss.
The Christian life is nothing more than a series of selfless recommitments to God: you wake up and redo everything you did when you first met God; the "fo-real" met God. No matter how tiny the matter may seem, no matter how insignificant it is to you, God's concerned about even the little things which threaten your relationship with Him because His mission is complete and utter purification of your character. As a result, God doesn't do patchwork: He makes a brand new tire. If the clay is marred or torn, ignoring however minute the tear may be, He takes up the clay and starts all over again. It's God we're talking about here. Hiss profession is Perfection.
Wondering why you can't get over that one sin? Or why life just isn't going the way you'd expect it? Or why, as a Christian, that guilt just won't go away? Permanently? Buy from Him gold tried in the fire [Rev. 3:18] and don't just spare some loose change for a quick fix. According to the Word, the greatest hurdle we'll ever face is ourselves as, once we've acknowledged our inadequacies and anchored our decisions in Christ, all other things will seem, well, insignificant: take My yoke, then you'll find Rest.
Until that black shoe's purchased, Lady Blue will always be on red-alert. She needs a new one: not a patch, not even an excellent second-hand. However, Blue isn't promised immunity once she does get her new toy. No. The good news is, if she ever gets a rip in her shoe again, the tire shop is always there: willing and able to deliver a new one.
No questions asked.
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