Do you like to grieve? Of course not! Do you like to experience sorrow? What about being depressed? Or maybe exasperation? Do you want to be the reason for someone else experiencing any of these feelings? Have you thought you might be?
We don’t like to feel sad or down in the dumps. We don’t want to be depressed or exasperated. We most certainly do not like grieving. Yet, we may cause others to experience these feelings. We absolutely cause the Holy Spirit to grieve when we are disobedient to God.
The Apostle Paul lists several ways in which we grieve the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 4:25-31. The list includes being false, sinning in anger, stealing, speaking evil or lying, being bitter or rotten, wrath, wrangling, slander, and malice. That is quite a list! Do we think when we act or speak in these ways that we are grieving the Holy Spirit?
Imagine the Holy Spirit when we are disobedient. He is grieving. He is sad, feeling frustrated at our behavior or speech. He lives in us to guide us, and we are ignoring him. We may think the Holy Spirit does not experience those feelings since he is spirit. Yet, we know God experiences feelings and the Holy Spirit is God. So, why wouldn’t he experience those feelings?
Can we keep ourselves from bad behavior and filthy speech on our own? No. This is why we need to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us. We need to be in sync with him. We need to be able to hear his voice, feel his nudging’s, and follow his guidance. When we do, those bad behaviors and talking will be replaced with truth, peace, good works, building one another up, kindness, tenderheartedness, and forgiveness. In other words, we will be obedient to God.
I pray we all seek to be in sync with the Holy Spirit. I pray we listen for his guidance. I pray each one of us will follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance and be obedient to God, pleasing the Holy Spirit. Be in sync with the Holy Spirit. Hear his guidance. Follow his guidance. Be obedient to God. Please the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.
Marty Pressey 