by A.W. Tozer

We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7

Faith is at the foundation of all Christian living, and because faith has to do with the character of God, it is safe from all vacillations of mood. A man may be believing soundly and effectively even when his mood is low, so low that he is hardly aware that he is alive emotionally at all. That is one thing, and it is good to know and still better to put in practice. But like every other truth, it has two sides. Our trouble today is that we tend to forget the other side, that is, that elevated spiritual mood is a tremendous aid to victorious living. The relation of faith to mood may be stated by means of a number of metaphors: if faith is the tree, mood is the blossom; if faith is the flower, mood is the fragrance; if faith is the instrument, mood is the melody. And who will deny the vital place of the blossom, the fragrance and the music in human life?

Mood is a kind of mental weather. There is weather in which nothing will grow. The farmer knows the damage done by prolonged periods of cold, wet weather in the spring after the seed has been planted. Sometimes the seed will rot in the ground, requiring a new planting with all the loss and extra work this entails. Weather may be too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet to favor good crops, and the Christian’s moods, in like manner, may be unfavorable to spiritual growth and fruitfulness. Christian service carried on during prolonged heaviness of heart may be as good as wasted.

by A.W. Tozer