Twice in the space of two weeks, we’ve had to deal with serious plumbing problems. First it was the bathroom (lavatory) faucet. Next it was the ensuite toilet.

Our plumber friend, Dave, spent countless hours trying to fix them.

The faucet kept on leaking slowly despite Dave changing its “guts” and installing a new “seat.”

The toilet was a rare model for which he could not find a suitable part at local hardware stores or plumbing specialty warehouses.

I must say that I admired his tenacity in researching resources online and picking the brains of plumber friends offline in his quest to find an inexpensive solution.

In the end, Super Dave had to admit that he (and we) had run out of options. Both were beyond repair. It was time to replace them with newer models.

As much as Dave was kind enough to do his level best to save us some money, his repeated forays to retail outlets and online excursions to plumbing sites were certainly expensive as well–in time, if not money!

This experience made me appreciate once again the wisdom of Jesus when he said: “Who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.” (Mark 2:22)

Yes, replacing the old cloth with totally new cloth and replacing old wineskins with totally new skins are expensive solutions. But losing the old cloth altogether, losing both new wine and old wineskins are also expensive propositions, amen?

The apostle Paul says something similar in Colossians 3:5: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.”

Those are strong words with an edge to them, wouldn’t you agree? Paul is basically asking: “Why resort to “Patch-It” solutions when you can take a “Hatchet” to the old self and replace it instead?”

In other words, stop trying to repair your carnal nature. Let it die. Choose to live by the Spirit instead. Put on the new cloth, the new wineskin, the new self.

When we do, we will spare ourselves the expense of wasted time and reach our destiny a lot faster, methinks.

What do you think?