Spending the Day with the Blahs
By Jerry Ousley
If you're like me occasionally you'll get up not feeling like
facing the day. You don't really feel sick but something has
just got you weighed down. I had a day like that recently. I
wasn't discouraged in the Lord and as mentioned before I wasn't
sick. I just didn't feel like facing the day. It didn't keep me
from going to work although I have to confess that my whole
heart wasn't in what I was doing. Still we pressed forward.
"The Blahs" is a layman's medical term and it may be linked with
a mild depression. It isn't a serious condition unless it
continues for a long period of time. It can be triggered by a
number of things including a fight with your spouse, trouble
with children, trouble on the job, or being too close on money.
But this mild, brief case is completely curable. For instance,
my day of the blahs was cured by a couple of over the counter
pain killers before bed followed by a wonderful night's sleep.
The next morning I felt like going out and conquering the world.
We all have days like that; we just wish we had stayed in bed or
taken the day off. We can't explain what it is but it's there.
It doesn't mean that we've lost our victory in Christ. We're
still fighting battles, just not quite as hard as we were
before. Life goes on (and on days like this it goes on and on
and on). Our common enemy, the devil, would like to take
advantage of our blah days attempting to make us believe that
something is wrong with us spiritually. He will tell us that we
aren't where we should be with the Lord, or that what we attempt
to do for our God is useless and that He doesn't really care
about us. He may even suggest to us that we've lost our
salvation or that we weren't really saved to begin with. Our
enemy is an opportunist. He will jump on any little thing he can
to discourage and defeat us.
What we need to understand is that our victory in Christ, our
labor in the Gospel and our relationship with Jesus Christ
doesn't depend on how we feel. Even though a touch from the
Master can affect our emotions in many ways our emotional
response does not define our place or stance in the Body of
Christ. In fact a surer sign of victory in Jesus is not marked
by everything going our way or by the world's definition of
success. It is actually found to be stronger in how we handle
the everyday situations that include problems, tribulations and
trials.
The next time you find yourself with a bad case of the blahs or
caught in the middle of a situation that seems impossible just
remember that Paul said, "Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in
distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am
strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10). I call these great statements of
faith "positive negatives." Paul was saying that when he endured
these things that in his weakness he became strong, not because
of himself but because of Christ in him. We can say the same
thing. When we go through these things that tend to make us weak
emotionally and sometimes physically we can be strong not
because we are some kind of super-giant Christian but simply
because of Christ in us. He becomes our strength. He alone is
our victory in every circumstance. When we know this then we are
armed with a weapon so mighty that the devil has to slink away
and stop whispering all those accusations in our ears. It is a
weapon that will get us through the blahs.
Jerry D. Ousley is the Author of three books, "Soul Challenge",
"Soul Journey" and "Ordeal." Listen to our daily broadcast
Spirit Bread. Find out more by visiting www.spiritbread.com
or email us at jousley@spiritbread.com
