ESOCS Devotional 22 February 2023
TEXT: EPHESIANS 4:26-30
MEMORY VERSE: “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30
To “grieve” here means to cause or make (the Holy Spirit) become angry. Apostle Paul is warning us not to cause the Holy Spirit to become angry with us due to ungodliness. The Holy Spirit who lives in us is a sign that we belong to God. He is the seal that we have been sealed with just like the ‘red seal’ or ‘stamp’ on a document in legal terms, or the company seal on its documents.
How do we grieve the Holy Spirit? It is by the way we live – use of bad language (e.g., “God punish you, your papa, your mama”), meanness (e.g., to be unkind, cruel), improper use of anger (e.g., being angry with someone for more than the necessary length of time, using anger to hurt others or to destroy relationships, or to destroy us from within), quarrels, harsh words, and bad attitudes towards others, etc.
When we grieve the Holy Spirit, it can be disastrous. Think of King Saul in the Bible who grieved the Holy Spirit through arrogance, and disobedience, up to attempting to kill God’s anointed, David, at various times (1 Samuel 18:11, 17, 21, 25); see other instances from the further reading. The consequence – the Spirit of God left him (1 Samuel 16:14) until he finally died. If a Christian dies this way, it is an express journey to hell fire.
What then is expected of us? We should not grieve the Holy Spirit, but please Him with our attitudes. We should act in love towards men just as God acted in love by sending His only begotten Son to die for our sins.
- It may be difficult to know we are grieving the Holy Spirit.
- May the Holy Spirit guide us to watch our attitudes at all times.
FURTHER READING: I Samuel 19, 20, 23: 13-14; Psalm 37:8
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
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ESOCS Devotional 22 February 2023
