HCC Weekly - November 24th,

Blue Belt Blues

Pastor David

In Brazilian Jiujitsu there is something called the blue belt blues. There’s a study that shows that for every 10 white belts that start jiujitsu, 1 will make it to blue belt. Then that single blue belt comes across those blue belt blues. A lot of the time the upper who were letting them work at white belt are now no longer holding back and allowing them to work anymore. And as a blue belt, this person now has a target on their back that every white belt is trying to hit. On top of that, they can begin to feel stagnant in their training. They have a decent grasp of their basics, but at blue belt they need to hone those basic skills while also learning the more advanced skills. Depending on how one handles these challenges will decide if this individual will make it to black belt (there are still two other belts in-between blue and black) or quit jiujitsu altogether. In my experience I would estimate that a good 65-70% of blue belts drop out before making it to purple belt. Their training stagnates, they don’t feel like they’re advancing, and they are getting smashed by everyone trying to get a piece of their belt.

In our Christian walk we can have times of blue belt blues as well. Where we feel our walk with God has stagnated and the world around us seems to be trying to get a piece of our belt. In jiujitsu the cure for the blue belt blues is not to quit training (although for jiujitsu specifically a break might help) but rather to become more focused. Instead of approaching jiujitsu as a whole, to overcome those blue belt blues you begin to focus on a certain technique in a certain position. You study that technique, you learn that technique and you put that technique into practice until you’re good at it and then you move on to the next technique.

In the same way, when our walk with God becomes stagnate, you don’t start pulling away from God and spending less time with him, instead you dive even deeper into God. When your relationship with him begins to plateau is when the time is right for you to force yourself to pray longer, read more of the Bible, listen to more sermons and minister for Him more. Hear me clearly, I am not talking about burn out. Burn out is different than stagnation and plateauing where your relationship with God isn’t growing. The cure for burnout is to take your sabbaths. The cure for stagnation is to dive deeper into God.

We see this example with Jesus. After ministering and pouring himself out to the crowd for hours, he feeds the 5,000 and then sends the disciples ahead of him in a boat while he goes up to hill to pray. Jesus, after hours of ministry to thousands of people and performing miracles, doesn’t go away from God but gets closer to God. So much so that the next time we see him in scripture, he is taking a walk on the lake in the middle of the storm with his disciples fighting the waves to stay afloat. Jesus is refreshed and ready to go and that storm means nothing to him as he calms it by simply stepping into the disciples’ boat (Matthew 14:13-36).

The answer to stagnation in your walk with God is not to take a break from him but rather focus more on him. Learn something more about him. The answer is to let God refresh you by going to him and opening yourself up so that he can do whatever he wants to do.

Colossians 1:9-10 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

So, if you feel like you’re not growing in your relationship with God, get closer to him. A suggestion would be to do what a blue belt has to do when encountering the blue belt blues. Focus on one technique. In other words, focus on one area of what God has revealed. An example would be to take up a new study on end time theology, or prophecies in the Bible. Or do a deep study on Paul’s pastoral epistles or make it a goal to look for Jesus in the Old Testament writings. In any one of these subjects, you can spend a lifetime of studying, but for now just take this week. In prayer, focus on one thing whether that is praying for your marriage, your finances, your Christian witness or whatever. But lift it up to God each day this week. In church, focus on taking one thing home and applying it for the rest of this week. Instead of trying to take in every aspect of God (which is impossible for us here on earth because of how big God is) focus on taking one specific thing from God. And after you’ve done that, do it again with something new… and again … and again until you are out of that plateau and stagnation and continually growing in Him again.