Blue Haze

10/21/2020

Jude 20 “Building up yourselves on your most holy faith.”

Full disclosure, Dear Readers: I am having a bit of a blue day. This is something that is difficult for me to admit, because my prayer is to not get in the way of what God wants me to covey as I write. Most of the time, I pray that the words you find here are encouraging or challenging. Today, however, as I sit down with another blank page before me, I am weary. It could be that my mood is reflecting the weather; it is gray and drizzly. It could be that I am Covid weary; I mean, aren’t we all? Most of the time, however, I feel this way because of my overactive empathy gene, if there is such a thing. I feel people’s pain and suffering very acutely, particularly when people I care about are suffering. I am not doing so well in the “building up by faith” category that the verse above speaks about.

Chambers writes, “Most of us develop our Christianity along the line of our temperament, not along the line of God.” I know this has been true of my faith walk. So many times in my life, the emotions of fear, sadness, or worry have overshadowed my faith and hence brought me into the blue haze I am in now. Chambers says that these emotional impulses are checked by God, and I am feeling that as I write. Chambers adds, “Impulse needs to be trained into intuition by discipline. Discipleship is built on the supernatural grace of God.”

So, I need to bring these emotional pieces before the Lord and ask Him to wrap them in His grace. It is a process of being trained through recognition and obedience to my Savior, and it will never end this side of heaven.

I am, as always, a work in progress.

Jude 20 & 21, “But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.” (NIV)