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"And do not grieve the Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
— Ephesians 4:30
Bible Reading
EPHESIANS 4:25-32
Devotional
We can insult a stranger, but we can only grieve someone who is close to us. To grieve means to cause pain or sorrow. This is the grave responsibility of a love relationship: a son can bring more joy to his mother than any stranger can, but he can also hurt her more than any other boy. Due to their unique and intimate relationship, a husband and his wife can bring more happiness to each other than anybody else this side of heaven—but they can also cause each other more pain than anything or anybody this side of hell.
Closer than a son to his mother and closer than a wife to her husband is the Holy Spirit to the children of God. That's why Paul tells us not to grieve the Spirit.
How do we grieve the Spirit?
We grieve the Holy Spirit whenever we go against his purpose: to devote our lives to the glory of God. He wants to write the glorious name of Jesus throughout our days. And when we do not want that, when we suppress the Spirit and insist on writing our own name and doing our own will, we grieve the Spirit of God.
We grieve the Holy Spirit if we do not want to read the Bible, for it is his book. We hurt the Spirit of God if we do not care about the church and its mission, for the church is his temple and its mission his work. We cause pain to God's Spirit if we do not want to pray, for he came to teach us how to say, "Abba, Father."
Here we sense what sin is for a Christian. It is not merely breaking a rule in the book. It means grieving the Holy Spirit, hurting the heavenly Father.
We, who are so sensitive—perhaps overly sensitive—to the hurt caused by those we love, must be more sensitive to the hurting love of God's Spirit. And we must praise the superhuman patience of God, who has not divorced us from his Spirit.
REFLECTIONS
If you grieved the Spirit in some way that's now obvious to you, bring it to your forgiving Father in prayer. And praise God for being so patient with all of us sinners.
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Reading this convicted me like crazy. It brought me to a reality that I do grieve the Spirit. I know that I put things before God, I have moments when I don't want to read His word or go to church or to pray. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in 'ME' that i neglect that which He has done for me. He sent His Son who bore the wrath of God that was meant for me - He bore that wrath in my place. Why do I allow myself to get wrapped up in this world and focus on me rather than daily falling on my face and realizing the greatness of God's grace and favor. Lord help me to give praise where it is due, help me to press forward in the mission of life that is your work, help me to fulfill the purpose of life - to bring Glory and to praise Your name. God please help me to deny myself, to have less of me and have MORE of YOU. I love you, Lord. I pray that you be with this women's devotional and that it will bring on lots of conversation, lots of edification, lots of communion in the saints, growth for your children and above all else, Glory to Your name. We love you. Amen.
2 comments:
Hi Christin,
Good to see you back in good form!
When you write of grieving the Spirit, here are some nuggets I am learning in my current seminary class( from my notes):
We have been given the Holy Spirit that we would know the things freely given to us through the word of God.
The Holy Spirit illuminates Christians to understand and apply Gods word to our lives.
Its not only good to have proper doctrine, but that our lives are a reflection of the doctrine we know and preach and teach.
we should be ordering our lives in light of Gods plans, purposes and will for our lives
We have been given the mind of Christ,to be able to spiritually discern and get this to also prove,
PROVE by our lives, what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God!
We are to present our Bodies to God as a living sacrifice, HOLY, ACCEPTABLE, well pleasing to God,
which is our REASONABLE service.
God created us in His image,
to fulfill His purposes.
All life is in response to God, either obedience to His will purposes and plans, or in disobedience...
The condition of our hearts,
The affection we set our minds and hearts upon, will determine if our life is one that is like God in character, pursuing Gods will,
or in rebellion by indulging in our fleshly longings and passions.
Gods design for our lives
is for us to be so enraptured with Him! To be passionate about His glory, His kingdom and like Moses,
reflect the glory of God.
As we learn of Gods love, learn through Gods word, grow to Love God and to love others, we begin to reflect the glory of God.
as we follow the words of the Apostle Paul, that we should join in following his example,
That we as beleivers in Christ,
who have the mind of Christ, The holy spirit of God, that we are to be a pattern to others, to also so walk...
and we are to note those who so walk likewise as a pattern,
for there are many who are enemies of Christ... whose god is their own belly, their own appetite,
and their greatest longing is to satisfy their own desires to indulge and set their mind upon earthly things...
So as we are designed by God to live before God as His image bearers, walking in His will,proving what that good and acceptable will of God is, living our life before others as a pattern and an example to follow,
the question becomes,
How in every situation,
Can I, will I, do I, Bring Glory to God?
and NOT:
How do I satisfy my own longings...
a long way to add
in every situation that we encounter in life,
do we please God, and Glorify Him,
or do we grieve God?
amen. this is something we all must remember as we go about our days. to remember that our lives need to be a reflection of Christ. amen and amen my friend. i love you and thank you for posting! i hope we can get some good conversations on here. woohoo! oxox
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