Do Not Grieve Jehovah’s Holy Spirit! ? ? ?

[Bible Speaks]

Do Not Grieve Jehovah’s Holy Spirit

“Do not be grieving God’s holy spirit, with which you have been sealed.”—EPH. 4:30.

JEHOVAH has done something special for millions of people living in this troubled world. He has made it possible for them to draw close to him through his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ. (John 6:44) 

You are one of these individuals if you have made a dedication to God and are carrying it out. As a person baptized in the name of the holy spirit, you have the duty to conduct yourself in harmony with that spirit.—Matt. 28:19.

Grieving the spirit can be the first step leading to the total loss of the influence of God’s active force in a Christian’s life. That this is possible is evident from what David said after he had sinned in connection with Bath-sheba. David repentantly begged Jehovah: “Do not throw me away from before your face; and your holy spirit O do not take away from me.” (Ps. 51:11) Only those anointed ones who prove “faithful even to death” will receive the “crown” of immortal life in heaven. (Rev. 2:10; 1 Cor. 15:53) 

Christians with an earthly hope also need holy spirit if they are to maintain integrity to God and receive his gift of life on the basis of faith in Christ’s ransom sacrifice. (John 3:36; Rom. 5:8; 6:23) Hence, all of us must guard against grieving Jehovah’s holy spirit.

How to Avoid Grieving the Spirit

We must be truthful. According to Ephesians 4:25, Paul wrote: “Now that you have put away falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, because we are members belonging to one another.” Since we are united as “members belonging to one another,” we certainly should not be devious or deliberately try to mislead our fellow worshippers, for that is the same as lying to them. Any who were to persist in such a course would end up having no relationship with God.—Read Proverbs 3:32.

Deceitful words and actions could disrupt the unity of the congregation. Therefore, we should be like the trustworthy prophet Daniel, in whom others could find nothing corrupt. (Dan. 6:4) And we ought to bear in mind Paul’s counsel to Christians with a heavenly hope that each member of “the body of the Christ” belongs to all the others and needs to remain united with Jesus’ truthful anointed followers. (Eph. 4:11, 12) If we hope to live forever on the Paradise earth, we too must speak the truth, thereby contributing to the unity of our worldwide brotherhood.

We must oppose the Devil, giving him no opportunity to harm us spiritually. (Jas. 4:7) Holy spirit helps us to resist Satan. For instance, we can do so by guarding against unbridled rage. Paul wrote: “Be wrathful, and yet do not sin; let the sun not set with you in a provoked state, neither allow place for the Devil.” (Eph. 4:26, 27)

If we do become justifiably angry, an immediate silent prayer can help us to be “cool of spirit,” displaying self-control instead of acting in a way that could grieve God’s spirit. (Prov. 17:27) So let us not remain in a provoked state and give Satan a chance to induce us to do something evil. (Ps. 37:8, 9) One way to resist him is by settling disputes quickly in harmony with Jesus’ counsel.—Matt. 5:23, 24; 18:15-17.

We must not succumb to any temptation to steal or be dishonest. Regarding theft, Paul wrote: “Let the stealer steal no more, but rather let him do hard work, doing with his hands what is good work, that he may have something to distribute to someone in need.” (Eph. 4:28)

If a dedicated Christian were to steal, he would actually ‘assail the name of God’ by bringing reproach on it. (Prov. 30:7-9) Even poverty does not justify theft. Those who love God and neighbor realize that stealing is never justified.—Mark 12:28-31.

We must guard our speech. Paul declared: “Let a rotten saying not proceed out of your mouth, but whatever saying is good for building up as the need may be, that it may impart what is favorable to the hearers.” (Eph. 4:29) 

Again, the apostle does not merely say what we should not do; he tells us what we should be doing. Under the influence of God’s spirit, we will be moved to ‘say what is good for building up so that it may impart what is favorable to the hearers.’ Furthermore, we should not let a “rotten saying” come out of our mouth. The Greek word rendered “rotten” has been used to describe putrefying fruit, fish, or meat. Just as we are repulsed by such food, we hate speech that Jehovah considers bad.

Our speech should be decent, kind, “seasoned with salt.” (Col. 3:8-10; 4:6) People should be able to discern that we are different when they hear what we say. So let us help others by speaking what is “good for building up.” And may we feel as did the psalmist who sang: “Let the sayings of my mouth and the meditation of my heart become pleasurable before you, O Jehovah my Rock and my Redeemer.”—Ps. 19:14.

We must rid ourselves of bitterness, wrath, abusive speech, and all badness. After warning against grieving God’s spirit, Paul wrote: “Let all malicious bitterness and anger and wrath and screaming and abusive speech be taken away from you along with all badness.” (Eph. 4:30, 31)

As imperfect humans, all of us need to work hard to control our thoughts and actions. If we were to give free rein to “malicious bitterness and anger and wrath,” we would be grieving God’s spirit. The same is true if we kept score of wrongs committed against us, manifested a resentful attitude, and refused to become reconciled to the offender. If we even begin to ignore the Bible’s counsel, we might develop traits that could lead to sinning against the spirit and we might experience disastrous consequences.

We need to be kind, compassionate, and forgiving. Paul wrote: “Become kind to one another, tenderly compassionate, freely forgiving one another just as God also by Christ freely forgave you.” (Eph. 4:32) 

Even if we are deeply hurt by some wrong done to us, let us forgive, as God does. (Luke 11:4) Suppose a fellow believer has said something negative about us. In an effort to straighten matters out, we approach him. He expresses true sorrow and asks for forgiveness. We forgive him, but we need to do more. “You must not take vengeance nor have a grudge against the sons of your people,” says Leviticus 19:18, “and you must love your fellow as yourself. I am Jehovah.”

Unless we are vigilant and prayerful, we could succumb to an unclean or wrong practice that would constitute a grieving of the spirit. Because the holy spirit produces qualities that are expressive of our heavenly Father’s personality, when we grieve it we grieve, or sadden, him—something we surely do not want to do. (Eph. 4:30, ftn.) 

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2010364?q=eph+4%3A30&p=par

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