Grieving the Spirit

I heard about a man who, while touring of a large manufacturing plant, noticed a man using a fiery torch of high intensity to work on huge slabs of steel. There were times, however, when the flame would not make any impression and the steel seemed completely resistant to the heat. When this happened, a worker applied a chemical substance to the stubborn area, and immediately the cutting could be resumed. The visitor inquired about what was happening, and his tour guide explained that although the torch was able to go through clean steel eight inches thick, if it encountered the slightest film of rust on the surface, the flame would not penetrate it. The visitor, who was a Christian, later remarked, “It struck me forcefully that this is a picture of the Christian. The Holy Spirit is seeking to produce in us God’s perfect design. If the life is unblemished, He is able to continue His efforts; but if we become carnal or backslidden, His work of shaping us is hindered until the area in question has been thoroughly cleansed.”

Part of the reason God has placed His Holy Spirit into the life of believers is to help mold them into the people He wants them to be. We are not spectators in this process; we can either work with the Spirit or against Him. God’s Spirit is a powerful force, but when He encounters the slightest resistance on our end, He cannot produce His fruit in our lives. When we tell him no or stubbornly refuse to repent of sin or follow His leading, we create an environment in which He cannot work. I believe this grieves the Holy Spirit. 

In Ephesians 4:30 Paul said, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” In his book Forgotten God: Reversing our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit, Francis Chan wrote “The Spirit is grieved when there is a breach in relationship, whether it be relationship with God or relationship with other people. When we are disunified, unloving, hateful, jealous, gossipy, etc., that is when we grieve the Spirit of God. And since He is the creator of emotions, I believe that the Spirit grieves more deeply than we can even understand.” 

The choice is simple. If we want God to continue making us into the people He wants us to be, we need to live in unity with each other and love our neighbor as ourselves. If we want to stifle His sanctifying work, we can live at odds with others, grieve the Spirit, and fail to grow into maturity. Don’t grieve the Spirit. Let Him work in you and through you so that you may be conformed into the image of Jesus.