Skip to main content

Grieving The Holy Spirit

         And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:30-32)

 Can you imagine a better way to start over than by somehow – even miraculously – stopping grieving someone you care for? My immediate response to an accusation that I’ve hurt someone is that I didn’t mean to. Part of the problem is that Scripture speaks a great deal about God, the Father, and Jesus, the Son, but what’s said about the Spirit is more abstract. And when I hear that still, small voice, is it God speaking to me? Or the devil? Or the world? Or just my own imagination? It's not like we get a note lowered on a fishing line or an announcement from on high that everyone hears. It can be hard to think of the Spirit as a Person and not just some vague, foggy shape that we only see out of the corner of our eyes.

It seems critical to consider what grieves the Holy Spirit. Fortunately, Paul put this idea in the middle of a list of instructions. And, having checked the Greek, this passage does begin with the word we translate as “AND.” That means the things we’ve explored over the past several days are

I        Put off falsehood and speak truthfully

II       In your anger, do not sin

III      Stop stealing and work

IV      Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, and…

V       Do not grieve the Holy Spirit.

It might be said that I through IV all lead up to and are part of V. It wouldn’t be wise to say categorically that lying, sinning in our anger, stealing, and saying unwholesome things don’t grieve the Holy Spirit, but based on the grammar involved, the things Paul says after the command not to grieve the Holy Spirit seem more connected. He sums up nicely everything that has gone before by saying to get rid of all the filth and be kind, compassionate, and forgiving. And what word sums that all up? Love. To avoid grieving the Holy Spirit, we must love one another.

Funny how it always comes back to that, but at the same time, it’s no longer about doing something involving that vague, foggy shape. We do what is necessary to not grieve the Spirit through our interactions with flesh and blood. That makes it easier and harder.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more