Grieving the Holy Spirit

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the Day of Redemption.”  - Ephesians 4:30

If you are a parent, you understand the difference between being angry at your children, and being grieved by your children. It is one thing when your kids make you mad; it is another thing when they break your heart. When they anger you, most of the time the problem can be corrected fairly quickly. But when they grieve you, it can create a wound that takes days, weeks, months, or even years to heal.

Did you know that you can grieve the Spirit of God? The word, “grieve,” used in Ephesians 4:30, literally means, “to cut to the quick.” It means, “to break someone’s heart or to cause someone great sorrow.” You can, in effect, bring tears to the eyes of the Holy Spirit.

That truth in itself tells us that the Holy Spirit is not a thing, but a person. You can’t grieve a force, power, or influence. You can only grieve a person. Just as God the Father is a person and God the Son is a person, God the Holy Spirit is a person, too. This means He has feelings. The greatest feeling He has towards us is love.

The word, “grieve,” is a love word. You can only grieve someone who loves you. You can anger your enemy. You can aggravate or irritate a stranger. But you can only grieve someone who loves you. We talk a lot about the love of God; and God is love. We talk a lot about the love of Jesus…”Jesus loves me this I know.” But have you ever thought about the love of the Holy Spirit?

God the Holy Spirit loves you and wants what is best for you. He wants to only take you places that you should go. He wants to only lead you to do things that please God. The Holy Spirit is your greatest advocate, your biggest cheerleader in your relationship with God. He is your power source…your connection to Christ.

Application: Spend a few moments in prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything in your heart that grieves Him.