Do you have a Blah Person?

Perhaps there are different ways to describe them. A dumping on person, a vomit on person, a complain to person, etc. Do you have one?

Now let me clarify something..

You could probably label some people who are in your life, or that you are aware of, that live their lives as blah people permanently. They are consistent complainers and whiners. They can find the bad in everything and everyone. They will make you aware of all the bad things happening in their lives and how nothing is ever right – for them or the world around them. If they ever are able to make a positive statement about something or someone it almost throws you off balance.

I’m not thinking of these people and I hope that you are not one of them. As a follower of Jesus, I trust that the “fruit of the Spirit” is flowing from you more and more and that you are active in bringing God’s kingdom “here on earth as it is in heaven” and not simply pointing out the non-kingdom things that are going on.

Yet we all have those thoughts that go through our minds. The frustrations, the anger, and perplexities. Stuff we are working through in an “unfiltered” way. In many ways, the Psalmists model what this looks like as they complain to God for what is happening to them and around them.

And I trust that you are going to God with these honest thoughts and feelings as I believe He desires that we express these things to him.

But I also think that there needs to be a human version of this in our lives. Do you have someone like this?

Now let’s be clear what these people are not.

These are not people who allow you to complain incessantly about anything and everything on an ongoing basis.

These are not people who are there to agree with all of your complaints.

These are not people who encourage you to keep on being negative or even revengeful.

And these are not people who look forward to you complaining to them so they can then complain back to you – a joint “blah” session if you know what I mean.

So who are these people?

They are people who know you well. They are people who love you deeply and desire the best for you. They are people who can listen and provide a space to be heard. They are people who know that life isn’t always easy, that “stuff” happens that needs to be expressed.

And they are also people who know when to tell you when “enough is enough.’. That you have had your moment to “blah” and that you now need to move on. They can give you counsel on how to work through these issues or guide you to someone who can, depending on the issues you are working through.

They will listen yet won’t allow you to stay where you are. They also know you enough and have your respect that they may even push you to move on even before you think you want to, but they know you must.

And, in the best case, you are also their “blah” person. What they are for you, you are for them.

Personally I know that I have this in my life. At times I can call and simply say, “Can I blah for a bit.” And they’ll listen and not judge. They are safe and I appreciate that.

So, for the sake of your discipleship and growth as a follower of Jesus, make sure you have a blah person. They are amazing.

For the kingdom.

I recently spent 4 weeks in two African countries. My time was spent working with pastors in some vibrant churches. These were by invitation from African leaders who have become friends and believe I have value to bring even as I have invited them to Canada because I believe that they have value to bring to us.

During my time, I had a number of conversations with different pastors about the evil that they dealt with on a regular basis. This included witch doctors and their influence, the belief in evil spirits that were present in the Indian Ocean and blew in with the winds (no one lives within 500 metres of the coast because of this), the negative influence of the dead on your life if you don’t deliver their body back to the village they were born in, etc.

They are often praying against these realities as people seek freedom from this evil in their lives.

As we talked, I thought about my context in North America. I have at times heard Christians talk about this overt evil that is experienced in different contexts and in a way there is a fascination with this manifestation of evil and the need to pray against it. It is very true that prayer of various kinds must be used and one must be very aware of what you are dealing with.

And yet, in my context, I wonder how much more evil there is. It’s not the overt evil such as what I heard about in these African countries, but it is no less evil, in fact, it may be even more insidious. It is so evil that we don’t even recognize it, and perhaps we even elevate it as “normal life”, as “the way we live”. As I shared with my African friends: “At least the evil you deal with is visibly evident. I don’t know if we are aware of the evil we are facing.”

Can you recognize what I am thinking about? Are you aware of the evil around you, that you are perhaps succumbing to?

It is the evil of lethargy, not leaning into the life of faith God is calling you into. It is an unwillingness to “deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow.” It is the evil of always needing to get more, own more, have more success, get a larger house, better education – a belief that God owes you more external success for your happiness.

It is the evil that pulls you away from loving and caring for those who are marginalised in society, and instead has you talking badly about them and their poor choices.

It would appear that the evil one – satan, devil, evil spirit – whatever name you want to give, doesn’t even have to work hard at convincing us to follow it. I think we have embraced it culturally, not only culture broadly but perhaps even in our comfortable, middle-class churches. This evil is self-centred, caring only for us.

I probably haven’t done a great job of fully articulating this, yet I know that I have been asking the Holy Spirit to make me more aware of the evil that I have chosen not to see so that I can become all that God is calling me into. How about you?

For the kingdom.