Eph. 4:30

"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." Eph. 4:30

Sometimes it just happens. It isn't necessarily something big that causes it, sometimes it is. Grief happens. A little girl cuts her own hair with a pair of "play" scissors. Momma cries the cry of the grief-stricken. A grown woman sees a billboard with the picture of an aborted baby - and weeps copious tears. An aged man looses his driver's license because he is no longer safe on the road - his grief is expressed in anger. Grief doesn't have to be caused by the death of a loved one. Grief can strike anyone at any age for the simplest of reasons. But the grief is
just as strong.

Paul tells us that we should avoid grieving the Holy Spirit. We all know we do that by committing some great, grievous, "unpardonable" sin. Right? Not always the case. Look at the context of this verse. That's right, it is in the middle of a discussion of our speech habits - our word usage. It is not the great and horrible things that grieve the Holy Spirit, it is the little day-by-day things that we say and do. It is the little jab we direct towards a friend in jest. It is the petty theft of paper and toner as we make personal copies on the company copy machine. It is the long distance call we "forget" to log on the company phone. It is the glance on another's paper in the middle of a test. It is the "off color" word we use indiscriminately in our daily conversations.
These are the kinds of things that grieve the Holy Spirit.

So what happens when the Holy Spirit is grieved? Like the little girl that lost a favorite dolly, He cries. He withdraws from the offense. He withholds His blessings. He eventually ceases to communicate with the offending party. While the Holy Spirit is God, His reactions are much like ours - no, our reactions are much like His. We are made in the image of God, not the other way around.

So you want evidence of this statement, do you? Remember Ananias, and his wife Sapphira? They told a little white lie to Peter - the representative of the Holy Spirit - and they died. How about King Saul? He continually broke the express directions of the Holy Spirit as related through the prophet, Samuel. The result was the departing of the Spirit of God from the king - and eventual death. Even King David broke the commands of God and ordered a census taken of all the men of Israel. The Holy Spirit withdrew from David and thousands of Israelis were killed by the angel of the Lord.

Hummm, I don't think I want to grieve the Holy Spirit. Do you? But I do; and you do, and we will. So how do we quit this destructive pattern? We ask the Spirit to put a seal on our lips to prevent us from speaking harshly. We ask the Lord to lead us to conviction when we do those offending acts. And, we seek to be warned when we think about doing them and ask for strength to forgo the committing of offending actions. Lord, give us strength! Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.