BARNACLES are small marine crustaceans, saltwater animals with an external shell-like covering. They are "attachers." They join themselves permanently to ships, wharves, and rocks, and other marine animals. Clinging to the hull of a ship they can reduce the vessel's speed. The ship must be put in dry dock to have the bottom scraped from barnacles.
I too am like some ships at sea
which are loaded down with barnacles. I'm
weighted down, slowed from pressing on to the best plan God has
for my life. I confess to unwanted attachments and feelings. I need to release them, let them go!
I unnecessarily cling to offenses against me, real or
imagined. They multiply exponentially. I remember hurts and keep the
wounds open by reviewing them in my mind. I cling to negative emotions
long after the situation is resolved which was the cause of them. I should release these barnacles. I
should let them go!
I can't seem to forget events of the
past when I was slighted or disappointed, occasions when I was
sinned against or taken advantage of. They are barnacles. I should
let them go!
Sometimes I, myself am a barnacle clinging to some relationship that is over, trying to
resurrect a friendship that should be relegated to the past. There may
be people I should allow to leave my life, whom God wants out of my life. I may be holding on
to a wrong relationship or an addiction. I should intentionally release it. I should let it go!
I
might be holding on to some thoughts of evil or revenge, planning to
get even with someone for what he or she did to me. I must let it
go!
If
I am stuck in the past and God is trying to take me to a new level in
Him, I should turn my back on the past, let it go, and let God do His
new work in me. If I keep trying to help someone who doesn’t accept
or want my help, I should back off and let it go! If there is a
particular situation that I am used to handling myself and God is
saying 'take your hands off of it,' then I need to let it go!
If I don't release these things voluntarily, God may need to scrape these barncales off. The process is sure to be painful. Nevertheless, I will be lightened to “press on to the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus...” (Philippians 3: 13, 14). The Lord will bless me with a fresh start in a new direction if I allow Him to scrape the barnacles off of my life.
In my older calendar years I have an even greater accumulation of barnacles from which I need to be detached. No matter what my age or how complicated my circumstances, God is sufficient if I am willing to let them go, release them, detach myself from the “clingers,” forget the past, and surrender myself totally into His hands.
No comments:
Post a Comment