Grieving the Spirit

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

GRIEVING THE SPIRIT

Eph 4:29-32

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

NIV

We have examined all the aspects of those traits, attitudes, and behaviors that would generate unwholesome talk. We have looked into being kind and compassionate along with forgiveness. It is now time to ponder on what exactly grieves the Holy Spirit who God seals us with, marks us as his own, keeping us for the day of redemption. Of course, this is the last day, when we are raised from the dead,  and live in eternity with God, for in the other sense, we have already been redeemed, purchased back from the ravages of sin and death, and brought back into the light and life. Therefore, being sealed as it is put, means the Holy Spirit dwells within us marking us as different than the people of the world, as we left our citizenship in the world behind and became a citizen of the kingdom of God. But this grieving the Holy Spirit needs more examination. First, looking into the Greek word, lupeoo, translated here as grieve gives us more clarity as it carries the meaning, to make sorrowful, to affect with sadness, to cause grief; to throw into sorrow. We know what sorrow is as we have experienced sorrow for various reasons. It is sad to watch a loved one walk a path different than God’s. Various experiences in life can affect us with sadness. However, when it comes to the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, what would we do in order to make Him experience sadness about us? We would think that within the context of all the attitudes and behaviors that we are to rid ourselves of, they are the areas in our life that if we continue with them, we will cause the Spirit to be sad. So then, it would seem in that context that if or when we get angry, given to arguing, either yelling loudly at each other, or just getting upset with each other, or gossip about someone else and then of course, determined not to forgive someone, that we would be causing the Holy Spirit to grieve. The problem is that all sin would then grieve Him, and it is impossible for us to be a sinless person. Just how perfect or near-perfect would we have to be, in order for our lives not to be a cause of sadness to the Spirit? Some have thought that our returning to the old life, walking away from the faith, would be the cause of the Spirit’s grief. However, because we are marked because God has put His seal upon and within, are we always secure and safe from that old life of darkness and death. But this is not about eternal security, as we also know that we can take a hike, reject that seal and go back from whence we came. Indeed, after all, God did, sending His one and only Son to earth to live among us, show us the way, do so much among His people, then go to the cross and shed his blood, giving His life as a ransom for our sins, and then sending the Spirit to us, to reveal our need of repentance and leads us into all truth, as well as bringing us His fruit and His gifts into our lives, if we rejected all that, after tasting the goodness of God, and take that walk, the Spirit would indeed be grieved. However, in the meantime, as we have accepted God’s provision for our lives, Jesus, and we accept the Spirit who dwells within, we make every effort to walk in step with the Spirit, allowing Him to call the cadence of our lives and the direction we should walk. It comes down to whether we listen or ignore the Spirit of God.