Thursday, June 24, 2010

Do We Break His Heart?

Sometimes I wonder how the Holy Spirit feels ever since He took up residence in my physical frame. I think He is the most priceless thing that I have ever encountered. He is living and moving and breathing deep down in the recesses of my being. The Holy Spirit is the most intimate part of my life as He is constantly pointing the way to Jesus.

Do I take that gift for granted?

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

The Greek word for grieve is " lupeite." I have had a taste of that. It means to cause sorrow or heaviness. The Holy Spirit has personality and can feel. To think that He has suffered similar emotions really makes me stop and think for a moment. But, to think that I may have been the cause of that sorrow just about breaks my heart.

I think the command to "not grieve the Holy Spirit" is an interesting one. It doesn't say, "Don't make him angry." It seems be more of a delicate and tender term. When we are grieving Him, it is almost as if a piece of Him dies since we are not choosing His ways.

The Holy Spirit is a fire that dwells within our beings. The Word tells us not to quench the Spirit. To quench is to suppress fire. Do my actions and thoughts prevent Him from being revealed to the world? What would that look like?

~coveting something that belongs to another
~ingratitude towards God
~impure thoughts
~no time for prayer
~no time for God's word...but time for a novel
~unbelief...not believing God is who he says he is
~bitterness...being unmerciful towards others
~unkind words...my mouth is not a means of grace

The list could go on forever. Any sin in my life absolutely rips the Spirit's heart out. Spurgeon says that "He sorrows in his soul because he knows what sorrow these things must bring to our souls."

He decided to take up His residence in a physical frame that would not always choose the Godly path. Seems like a risky decision to me. Seems like a very loving and selfless decision.

God, give me grace to choose thoughts and actions that point to the glory of our Savior. And help me be more mindful of what breaks your heart.

1 comment:

Little Oak Table said...

so good. this morning i was looking in 1 tim 3 about godlessness in the last days...proud, abusive, rash, conceited, lovers of themselves, lovers of pleasure, lovers of money, disobedient to their parents and the list went on...very convicting. thanks for the good word today!