Ephesians 4: 30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
There is continuity in Paul’s teaching to the Ephesians. He begins at a basic place; redemption. Paul tells us to put on the new self that was won for us through Christ’s victory. He continues through the other verses we have looked at building upon each preceding verse; the foundation being Christ himself. Paul teaches us about truth, anger, righteousness and the tricks of the devil. Then he instructs us to keep our mouths from speaking anything except that which is edifying. No sooner does he give us instruction about the way we use our language than he tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit. In other words, we have the ability to grieve the Holy Spirit and one of the quickest and easiest ways to do that is to speak in a way that is not consistent with truth (which is Jesus) and love (which is God 1 John 4: 8).
We must begin to take these things seriously. The Lord is showing us that it is important to Him that we guard our mouths, that we treat each other kindly, that we act in ways that are becoming of the children of God. Really now, none of us wants to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. That is a horrible prospect. But we don’t take these other instructions of God seriously at times. We say any stupid thing that comes to our minds. We say unkind things about others and we even lie. Even if you are telling the truth, if it does not edify then it should go unsaid lest you grieve the Holy Spirit. Do you really want to cause our God and Father grief? Then begin to take seriously His instruction to you. Don’t take the Bible as just printed words on a page but instead see the living, breathing Word of God. Take His word to heart and let it change you. Let it guide and instruct you.
Leave a Reply