THREE SINS AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT
If you
know that you have never met the Jesus Christ, as your personal Lord and
savior, Please pray this prayer with faith all your heath and you will be born
again.
Dear Lord Jesus, I come to you today. I come with my sins
because I am sinner. I cannot help myself forgive me my sins, cleanse me with
you blood of Jesus Christ. Deliver me from sins, Satan and its forces to save
you the living God. From today I accept you as my personal Lord and my savior.
Thank you Jesus for saving my life.
I think it
is really important for us to better understand the person of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes people think of the Holy Spirit as more of an “It” than a “Him.” But
according to scripture , the Holy
Spirit is not only God, but He has a will, a personality, and can even be
offended!
There are six specific sins that can
be committed against the Holy Spirit. Today, allow me to focus on one that
can be committed by believers—grieving the Holy Spirit.
One of the places in Scripture where
we read about grieving the Holy Spirit is in Ephesians 2:29-32. The apostle
Paul writes:
“Don’t use foul or abusive language.
Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an
encouragement to those who hear them. And do not grieve God’s Holy
Spirit by the way you live…. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh
words, and slander, as well as all types of malicious behavior. Instead, be
kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through
Christ has forgiven you.”
To grieve means to make sad or sorrowful. It means to cause sorrow,
pain, or distress.
But what makes the Holy Spirit sad
or sorrowful?
1. Foul and abusive language makes
the Holy Spirit sad.
Ephesians 2:29 says, “Don’t use
foul or abusive language.” The word used here speaks of something that has
gone “rotten.” This includes obscene language, profanity, dirty stories,
vulgarity, double entendres, etc.
When did it become “cool” for
preachers to speak this way from a pulpit? Some people would say this is being
“real” or “authentic.”
Guess what? You are not to speak
this way—privately or publicly. How about being authentically godly instead?
2. Bitterness makes the
Holy Spirit sad and sorrowful.
The definition of bitterness
is “an embittered and resentful spirit that refuses to be reconciled.”
Some people just like to be mad.
They live for conflict, arguing, and fighting. This, as with all sin, only gets
worse if left unchecked and unrepented of.
The sad thing is that bitter people
rarely want to keep it to themselves. Instead, they spread it around. The Bible
speaks of “a root of bitterness defiling many” (see Hebrews 12:15) I have a better idea: forgive!
3. Fits of rage and uncontrolled
anger make the Holy Spirit sad and sorrowful.
“Rage” speaks of the person who is
easily angered and who raises his voice—shouting and screaming. “Slander” is
speaking evil of others behind their backs. “Malicious behavior” speaks of ill
will and plotting evil against someone.
Look, all of us have been hurt in
life, but we have a choice as to how we react. We can be like the moneylender
Shylock in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, demanding our “pound of
flesh.” We can say, “They did this to me; therefore I will have my vengeance!”
Or we can believe God when He says
“Vengeance is mine, I will repay.”
It is said that Augustine had a sign
on his wall that read, “He who speaks evil of an absent man or woman is
not welcome at this table.”
Try the acronym T.H.I.N.K.
the next time you are not sure whether or not you should say something.
- T – Is it Truthful?
- H – Is it Helpful?
- I – Is it Inspiring?
- N – Is it Necessary?
- K – Is it Kind?
Instead of speaking evil of someone,
we are to “be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.”
“But they don’t deserve that!”
True, but neither do you or I—yet
God still forgave us.
Paul concludes (Ephesians 4:32) by saying, “…just as God
through Christ has forgiven you.”
Forgiven people should be forgiving
people. Otherwise, we are grieving the Spirit.
Email: prayinggod21@gmail.com
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