Grieve not the Spirit
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Eph. 4:30
This verse confronts us with the reality that the most important thing to a true Christian is to please God. “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.” That ought to be the greatest motivation to obedience right there. Don’t sin. Why? Because it grieves God. It grieves the Holy Spirit. Why would you grieve the One who has done so much for you and in you? Why would grieve him who unites you to Jesus Christ and makes you a partaker of all saving blessings? The godly man or woman is one who lives before God, and who lives for Him before anyone else. When faced with pleasing human authority or God, Peter responded, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). The Christian man is the man who lives before an audience of One. He studies to show himself approved unto God (2 Tim. 2:15); he cares little for the approval of men.
Does this describe you? Are you a man or woman who lives before God? Is your religion something you are doing because of what other people think of you, or can it only be explained because of who God is to you and what he has done in you? Are you a person to whom this exhortation means something? Does it move you to obedience and holiness when you hear the apostle say, “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God”? If not, then you need to examine yourself. Above all things, we need to be men and women who can stand before God, for we shall all do this in the end. You cannot escape it, either.
And therefore, we need Jesus Christ because it is only through him that we have access to the Father, through the Spirit. It is only through the blood of Christ that we will ever be able to stand before God without fear and shame. You cannot live before God and for God as long as you are condemned by him. We need the guilt of our sins to be removed. We need to be released from the grip of sins. We need the redemption from sins that comes through the death of Christ upon the cross. Thank God that the promise is ours that all who come to him and believe on him, trust in him and turn from their sins will be forgiven and receive eternal life in the presence of the Father forever.