pramsay posted on April 17, 2007 10:46
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How Do You Know If You Have
Grieved The Holy Spirit?
Marybeth is excited. “
That will be cool, Mom. Thanks for the big surprise,” she says. “
We can stay at a hotel Friday night; shop till we drop and then come home Saturday night.” They’re both excited. The phone rings. Mom answers it but she is saying very little. Her smile is gone. She looks shocked, disappointed and hurt. Mom hangs up, brushes away a tear and the room goes deathly quiet. Something’s wrong. Marybeth was being expelled from school after her 4th offense of skipping classes. The excited feelings about the shopping trip have vanished. Something has come between them.
Has that ever happened to you spiritually? Things are going fine. You’re reading your Bible and praying and enjoying your relationship with the Lord. When you spend sometime thinking about Christ and His death for you, you pray: “
Thanks Lord Jesus for loving me so much that You would die for a sinner like me. Help me to surrender everything to You. I want to be a bright light in a dark world for You.” Then a friend calls and coaxes you to go somewhere with the rest of the gang. You know you really shouldn’t but you want them to accept you. So you go. Or possibly you’re feeling all alone. Your friends are off having fun but you’re a Christian and you have nothing to do. You start feeling sorry for yourself and then that’s when you make a bad choice to occupy yourself other ways. And then what?
Your knees still bend but you don’t feel like praying. The Bible is on your desk but you don’t feel like picking it up. Your vocal chords still work but you don’t feel like singing. The muscles in your face are still there but the smile won’t work.
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians elevates the child of God to lofty mountain peaks to view our position and inheritance in Christ. But then Paul says: Keep this breathtaking view in your mind but go back down now and walk on the plains of earth before this godless world. Live for the Lord. Behave differently than the people around you. And …
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths,
but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
(Ephesians 4:29-32 ESV)
Marybeth’s mother was grieved by her daughter’s school record. The hurt look was plain to see. “
How could you let me down like this? I brought you up differently than that. You knew it would upset me. I’m hurt - deeply wounded that you, dear Marybeth, would do something like this.”
Grieving mom is one thing but grieving the Holy Spirit is something else! ‘Grieving’ is an interesting word: to think that He could love us so much that we actually grieve Him when we sin! When someone robs a bank, we’re not grieved – we are plain angry. We don’t experience grief or hurt. That’s because we have no relationship with them. No loving bond exists. We only grieve people who love us. Our wrong doing makes them sad and sorrowful.
Dear Child of God, the Holy Spirit living permanently within you loves you and wants to work within you to empower you to achieve all God has in mind for your life. When we sin, He is saddened. He grieves. How can that happiness and communion be restored? Confess exactly what you did wrong (bad thoughts, bad words or bad actions). Spend time confessing your sin to the Lord; draw near to Him. Read your Bible. Adopt Psalm 51 as your prayer of confession, repentance and restoration. It won’t be long before the communion will be restored and the Holy Spirit within will resume that sweet fellowship with you again.