And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving, one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.     Ephesians 4:30-32 NKJV

Do you love the Lord? Most of us say we love the Lord, but we don’t always act like we do. When we love our significant other or a relative or dear friend, we want to do the things that please them. We try to avoid upsetting them or grieving them.

We often don’t think so much about trying to not grieve the Holy Spirit. We may not think about how our disobedience breaks God’s heart. God created the Garden of Eden to be a heaven on earth, but when Adam and Eve allowed sin to enter in the world became corrupted. Imagine having created this beautiful paradise for them and they react by sinning and destroying it all.

We don’t always stop to think about how it was our sin that nailed Jesus to the cross. He died for you and for me while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8).  If you truly love the Lord your God, do you really want to hurt Him? Do you really want Him to grieve?

If not, we must consider this. We must stop and think about what we say and do. Are we speaking in a way that brings Him glory, honor and praise? Are we treating others as we would like to be treated (Matthew 7:12)? Are we loving even those who aren’t so lovable? Are we loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:43-48)? Are we forgiving others as Christ has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32)?

When we don’t obey the Lord, we grieve the Holy Spirit. We hurt the one we claim to love. The other thing we must understand is while God is very loving and will grieve over our sin, He is also a God of discipline. He will not allow our disobedience to go unpunished.

When we hurt someone, we love, we usually don’t do it intentionally, but often our sin is intentional. Meaning we know it’s wrong, but we do it anyway. We are told in Hebrews 10:26-27 that if we intentionally sin knowing it is wrong, there no longer remains a sacrifice for our sins but a terrifying expectation of judgment with a fearful expectation of a fire about to consume the adversaries.

Our disobedience grieves the Holy Spirit, it turns us into God’s adversaries, and it puts us in a dangerous position where we will face certain punishment.

So, I ask you, is it worth it to hold on to bitterness, wrath, malice and anger and unforgiveness and risk grieving the Holy Spirit? Is it worth being prideful and facing God’s wrath and punishment? I don’t think so.

Let go of past hurts. Forgive others as Christ has forgiven us. Be kind and tenderhearted with one another and do not grieve the Holy Spirit. You will be glad you did.

And we must always remember, when we grieve the Holy Spirit, we are not only hurting the one we love, but we are also hurting the One who loves us more than we could ever imagine.

 

Have a great day!