For “Scripture Sunday”:
How Can Someone Grieve the Holy Spirit?
“The Holy Spirit within a person is the presence of the living Christ within that person. To grieve the Holy Spirit is to cause sorrow, distress, and emotional pain to Jesus Christ Himself. Through His presence in us Jesus is witness to our every word, thought and act. Some have the potential to grieve Him.
Luke Stackpoole/Unsplash
God is grieved when He sees any of His beautiful children heading down a path that leads away from eternal life and away from the everlasting joy He wants to share with them.
Ephesians 4:30 warns “do not grieve the Holy Spirit,” and is a warning directed to those who have believed, been baptized and received the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit within a person is the presence of the living Christ within that person. So to grieve the Holy Spirit is to cause sorrow, distress and emotional pain to Christ Himself. Through His presence in us, Christ is witness to our every word, thought and act. Some have the potential to grieve Him.
Does a divine being really feel grief?
God is all-powerful and immutable, yet He reveals Himself as feeling and expressing emotion. For example, in Genesis 6:5-8 God expresses regret and grief because of the evil actions and thoughts of mankind. Jesus also told us that His life in the flesh showed what the Father was like, and Jesus felt emotions: indignation, wrath, sorrow, affection, joy.
What specifically causes God grief?
God can be grieved by what we do, what we think and what goes on in our hearts. The verses surrounding Ephesians 4:30 offer insight into matters of the heart, mind and actions that might grieve the Holy Spirit. Let’s take a look!
The words we speak
Ephesians 4:29 asks us to consider the words we speak. We are advised to stick to talk that builds up, helps and benefits others, bringing joy, pleasure [grace]. We should assume that corrupt communication is talk that tears people down, hurts them and is contrary to their best interests.
Scripture is filled from beginning to end with warnings about our speech. Perhaps because words provide the most tangible window into the heart.
Examples of corrupt communication
Ephesians 4:31 provides us with specific examples of corrupt communication or rotten talk:
Bitterness, meaning “pointed, sharp, cutting.” When used literally it means a harsh, unpleasant taste or smell. But Scripture uses it to describe spiritual matters as well.
Anger, which is broken down into two types:
1. Passionate wrath, ( thumos in Greek) meaning sudden outbursts of indignation.
2. Slow burning anger, ( orge in Greek) meaning calculated and lasting animosity; plotting revenge, for example.
Fighting, literally “crying out” in loud voice. For example, in controversy or arguing.
Slander, saying false, hurtful things about a person’s reputation or character.
Words can make known the hidden things of the heart. You might not realize what’s lurking within yourself unless you make the effort to listen to yourself. Watching your words is a tool God gives you to begin to look into your heart and detect attitudes that grieve Him. Then you should work to eliminate them.” Continued at: https://www.ucg.org/bible-study-tools/bible-questions-and-answers/how-can-someone-grieve-the-holy-spirit
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The Wiles of the Devil and Wile E. Coyote.
“What are the tactics of our adversary, Satan the Devil? What is our best defense against them?
YouTube: https://youtu.be/AhuZfXw9y9w
Transcript:
[Steve Myers] “You may have heard of the cartoon character, Wile E. Coyote, that’s on the “Looney Tunes”. He is the one that’s always after the Road Runner, and he will do anything to try to catch that speedy bird. But he never seems to be able to do it, but he doesn’t ever give up. He never gives up, and there’s actually a reason that I wrote it on the board that’s a biblical reason. Then there’s a connection that came to my, maybe odd mind recently. And there’s a connection to Ephesians 6:11. Wile E. Coyote came into mind when I read this passage. It says, “Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
Now it might seem kind of corny to think of it in this term. But the wiles, the reason they called him Wile E. Coyote is because he’s constantly scheming how to get that bird. And the apostle Paul used this word, in the Greek for a very specific reason. The word is methodias in the Greek which doesn’t just mean using methods, but he uses schemes, and he uses tactics and using wiles in the sense of using a strategy against us as God’s people.
So in a sense, we’ve got Satan, the devil, with a strategy, and the tactics of evil that are opposing us. And he’s not gonna give up, and he’s not going to relent. He’s like, in a sense, like this evil Wile E. Coyote, out to do anything and everything he possibly can to us as God’s people.
And so it’s not like Satan’s just, kind of, walking and strolling around without any intention. No, he has an intention. He has a method. He has a strategy to undermine our faith, and somehow thinking that he can short-change God, and overtake God, and subvert his plan if he can subvert us.
So we got to keep this in mind. Satan has tactics and strategy against us. So Paul tells us, if we’re gonna counter that, we’ve got to make sure then that we put on God’s armor. We can’t even do it ourself. We’ve got to put on the armor of God, and then by doing that, we can stand and we can battle and offset those wiles of the devil.” From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-daily/the-wiles-of-the-devil
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Update.
This had been a busy week, but not here. Monday, Zack and I did work a bit here, painting in the mini-house, mowing and getting the yards looking good for the weekend. Tuesday, I was supposed to meet one of the elders at the church dining hall, but he didn’t show up because had to do an extra day of jury duty. He called the wrong number to let me know, so I waited there for quite a long time. Then I went to the gym on the way home.
Wednesday and Thursday we worked at the church rebuilding the kitchen sink cabinet. It was one of those cheap particle-board ones that Furrows used to sell. Someone had done some terrible jerry-rigging on the plumbing under the sink, and a water leak had caused the cabinet floor and side to rot so badly that the drawer couldn’t be used and the doors were falling off. Really it was a situation where you take the radiator cap off and drive a new car under it. The countertop was OK, but the cabinet needed to be scrapped. We patched it up anyway with some plywood that I took over there. This church is not ours, we pay rent to a Sunday church, and until just recently after they got a new pastor, repairs were not done at all. But we use the kitchen a lot more than they do, so we thought that we ought to repair the kitchen cabinet. Also an army of ants had come into there and made a mountain beside it, and behind the refrigerator, so I cleaned that up. We had to pull the fridge out of the way anyway to get in there to put a new side on the cabinet.
Friday was my usual “Preparation Day”, so I made some chicken breast and chicken liver gumbo with rice on the side. Then in the afternoon, I tried to do something with my hair and get my house in some sort of order.
The potluck went well, there were other dishes, like chili tater-tots, baked ziti, always lots of veggies, cole slaw, romaine, etc. But the fridge had quit, I guess it didn’t like to be moved, so I had to bring all the condiments home to refrigerate them, and the rest of the food that was in the freezer was given to the elder who has the chickens.
The Bible readings were Lev 21:1-24:23, about sanitation, not to take a wife who is a whore, Sabbath, Feast of Tabernacles, Passover,and other Holy Days, Eze. 44:15-44:31 and 1 Pet. 2:4-10. The Teaching was about Rest, Spiritual Rest, God’s and Ours. Remember the Sabbath.
So I didn’t get much work done around here this week, it will have to wait. Then it rained Sunday all day.
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