Ephesians 4. 30 has always been a verse that has both fascinated me and disturbed me all at the same time. Are you familiar with it? It says this: 'And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.' What does that mean? How can you grieve the Holy Spirit?
I love the Holy Spirit and am so thankful that I've been sealed with the Spirit and filled with the Spirit and empowered in the Spirit. But, with that being said, I have to admit that I often feel sorry for the Holy Spirit. He lives in my sinful heart and yet, He is Holy. That couldn't be easy. If you don't like where you live, how would you like to be Him! It would have to be something like 'dirty jobs' on the discovery channel only infinitely worse.
But what does it mean to grieve Him? Why doesn't it say 'and do not tick the Holy Spirit off..' heck, a threat like that might get more immediate results! I hope that doesn't come across as irreverent... it wasn't meant in that way, I'm just thinking out loud, so to speak.
As I've thought about it, perhaps this is the reason, the one I've been meditating on today:
To grieve something... especially to grieve something deeply is a by-product of loving something passionately. I think the Holy Spirit grieves our sin because He loves us deeply.
If one of my children went into a rebellious stage and in spite of my instruction and my love and my care turned into an off-the-charts prodigal I would be mad, for sure, but more than that my prevailing emotion would be grief. I would weep and lament more than I yelled.
Grief seems to be a far deeper emotion.
The fact that my life could cause genuine pain to God the Holy Spirit causes me to begin to re-think what I so often tolerate in my heart. Anger, pride, malice, lust, defensiveness, selfishness, self-promotion.... all of these aspects of my sin grieve the one who lives in my heart. They grieve Him deeply because he loves me passionately. He weeps over my sin even when my eyes are dry. That is the sort of love that pierces the heart, that makes me reconsider, that causes me to grieve as well.
May we learn to live in the Holy Spirits power and joy and rest in the security of His seal upon us.
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2 comments:
wow. thank you. my eyes are arrid much of the time. i don't grieve over my own sin. i just don't get it. sometimes i think i get it. perhaps that is the greatest folly of all, to self-righteously assume that i have any idea how deep is this abyss. thank you for reminding me that i'm so much worse than i think. thank you for reminding me that i am more loved by Christ and by the Holy Spirit than i can comprehend. thank you for doing that on a consistent basis, not just on a blog.
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Hey Matt, so glad to see you putting heart thoughts out on the net. The church needs it and it is helpful. I know it is hard to be regular.Geritol helps me. I am also reminded as I read you that I have done alot of grieving of the Spirit. What a sad thing and how joyful that He holds on to me through Christ. Blessings
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