“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30
The Holy Spirit loves Jesus Christ. He knows how very painful it was for Jesus to have suffered the cross and all that lead up to it and all that followed.
It is easy to look at the sins of other people and justify that we are not THAT bad. But obviously we all sin. No matter how “large” or “small” we see it, sin is still sin. We take the Holy Spirit, who lives inside of us, places He doesn’t want to go. Can you imagine how He feels sitting there watching the sin occur as we commit it? I am sure He feels a bit of indignation and …grief.
We must be aware of the Holy Spirit IN us. We must be pro-active, not reactive with what we think and do. We need to weigh each and every one of our actions.
How thankful are we for a loving, forgiving, good, merciful God. But, He is also a just, righteous and holy God.
- James 1:9 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
- Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
We need to feel convicted to slow down and watch our every move. The words that come out of our mouth need to be examined as well as our thoughts. It is so important to live each moment remembering that the Holy Spirit lives IN us.
If someone we loved went through an excruciating experience, we would never want someone to flagrantly disregard that and for us to have to sit there and watch, time after time.
Many of us are completely aware that the Holy Spirit lives in us. We also know our sin grieves the Holy Spirit. But have you thought about how our sin causes the Holy Spirit to live in a state of grief as we go about. We should want to live an intentional life; one that hesitates and appreciates His Grace.
An acronym for Grace is: God’s riches at Christ’s expense. God has indeed given us His riches! These riches have come at His Son’s expense. He also has asked us “to not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
Most of us would say that, just as the Israelites thought they would listen and obey God, (Deut. 5:27-29) our intentions are to really, really listen, obey and not sin. But we can’t. Can’t you just see the Holy Spirit watching us, crying out a warning for us, and asking us to please stop? Christ died for that. Can you picture His grief?