Banish the Barnacles
Living the Christian Life Simply
by
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The gospel of Christ is really quite simple. Jesus, a perfect man, suffered and died in our place in order that our sins would be forgiven and we could approach God. The veil of the temple was torn in order to show that, with the death of Jesus, we can access God's forgiveness and can now approach a Holy God! Not because of anything we have done or earned, but because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. Simple. Profoundly simple. Yet “things” were being attached to that. Why? To please others? To make ourselves feel more holy? To score points with God by what we do? Maybe to better our relationship with God by obeying rules? While I am not against rules, it just seemed wrong to infer something is of God when it is not. I began to call these things we attach to our faith barnacles. Barnacles, in the literal sense, are actually creatures categorized as crustaceans. They secrete a substance that sticks to surfaces and then hardens. Which means, of course, they will attach to the surfaces of boats. I am not a boater, but I did some research on barnacles, because I saw a spiritual application. Barnacles can cover the submerged part of a boat. While a barnacle, in itself, is not a bad or evil creature, the damage they cause can be harmful! Barnacles affect the performance of the boat including not only the surface but also the engine performance reflected in several ways. In other words, no matter how great and expensive your boat, when it is covered with barnacles it will not perform as advertised. A barnacle is not like an iceberg. They are not like a chunk of ice ramming through your boat, but rather attachments on the surface. One by one, barnacles won't kill you, but they will affect everything about your boat. Spiritual barnacles will affect everything about your life. The more barnacles we allow in our lives, the less we truly represent God. So, religious barnacles - where do they come from? How have we embraced them and allowed them to be attached to our faith?
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About the Book
Most of the time we have the best of intentions in living our Christian lives to honor and please God. We truly mean well, yet we may have permitted things into our lives that burden us with obligations and expectations that are not from God. Perhaps we need to take the time to step away from our good intentions and seek God’s pure and simple ways. If we have a willingness to let go of stuff that’s not of Him and just step into the simplicity of who God really is, we will find a peaceful simplicity in our lives. We aren’t making God smaller to suit our needs, it’s making us simpler to suit His plan.
About the Author
Author Debra Longer used to envy people who knew what they wanted to be when they grew up and focused their lives on that goal. All she knew for sure about what she would be when she grew up, was that at the age of 14 she gave her life to the Lord, offering to “even become a minister.” She then found out that sometimes it’s a roundabout way to the promised land. Debra says she has had a patchwork of interests, jobs and careers, touching many areas along the way toward her goal: business owner, teacher, dancer, and pastor, to name a few. “I have always loved patchwork,” she says. “It shows different designs and colors that that fit together to form a complete work. Life is like that with many of us. And I love seeing God continue to fit all the pieces together.”