Striving to Surrender: A Better Way to Work With Jesus
In Matthew 9:16, Jesus says, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.”
At first glance, it’s an odd metaphor. What does sewing have to do with faith — or for that matter, our careers? But like so many of Jesus’ teachings, this one is simple, practical, and deeply revealing once you sit with it.
Jesus wasn’t giving a lesson on tailoring. He was describing the tension between the old and the new — between a life built on self-effort and one transformed by grace. In His time, people were used to approaching God through law, ritual, and tradition. Fasting, sacrifices, rules — these were the “old garments.” But Jesus came to reveal something new: a relationship built not on earning, but on receiving.
Jesus’ point was simple — you can’t just add Him to your old way of doing things. Trying to mix grace with performance doesn’t work. And He wasn’t condemning old traditions outright; He was revealing that His new covenant couldn’t simply be attached to the old one. The covenant He brought wasn’t a better version of the old — it was an entirely different fabric.
The Modern Patchwork Problem
If we’re honest, most of us still try to patch Jesus onto our old garments today. We invite Him into our Sundays but keep control over our Mondays. We pray for wisdom in our careers, but we still measure success by the same worldly standards — titles, salaries, influence. We might even tell ourselves we’re working “for God’s glory,” but deep down, we’re still chasing affirmation, achievement, and approval.
That’s patchwork faith — trying to add Jesus to a system that was never designed to hold Him.
When we live that way, something eventually tears. It might look like burnout — the slow exhaustion of carrying a weight Jesus never asked us to carry. It might show up as disillusionment when the promotions or praise we chased don’t deliver the satisfaction they promised. Sometimes it’s the quiet realization that all our striving hasn’t brought us peace, that success without Jesus still feels strangely empty. Or it may surface as that nagging sense that no matter how much we achieve, it never seems to be enough to make us secure or whole.
Jesus warned us about this. The old garment of self-reliance can’t hold the new fabric of grace. Self-effort frays and pulls apart under pressure, but Jesus offers something entirely different: rest instead of exhaustion, identity instead of insecurity, and a definition of success rooted in walking with Him rather than proving ourselves.
The Freedom of a New Garment
Jesus doesn’t want to repair our old self; He wants to replace it. That means surrendering not just our weaknesses but also our strengths — the parts of us that look “successful” but still depend on our own power. It means letting Him redefine success, not as advancement, but as alignment. Not as climbing higher, but as walking closer.
In our work, that looks like choosing faithfulness over flash. It means measuring impact by obedience, not applause. It means resting in the truth that our worth is fixed, not fluctuating with each project, performance review, or promotion.
When we stop patching and start surrendering, we discover a peace that no achievement can replicate. Jesus doesn’t just want to be added to your career; He wants to be the fabric your work is woven from.
Because when He makes something new — it doesn’t tear. It holds.
