Lesson 21 – Grieving the Spirit
Read Ephesians 4:17-32 - https://www.bible.com/bible/59/eph.4.esv

Our last way of walking in truth is in our relationship with God. This is found in the last three verses of this chapter. The overall intent of these 3 verses is in verse 30, which tells us we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. We cannot lose our salvation by any action we can do. Once you are born, you can never be un-born. There is no created thing that can remove you from God’s love – see Romans 8:38-39 – and we are created beings! We can, however, grieve Him and close the door to communication with Him in our lives. How do we grieve Him? Look at the list in the next verse:

Bitterness
Wrath
Anger
Clamor – that’s arguing
Slander
Malice

In the last lesson we looked at verse 26 which says we are not to sin with anger. Sinning with anger leads to these six results in our lives. Anger that is not dealt with properly can also lead to these, leading us into sin – and grieving Him who was given to us as a seal, or a promise, of our day of redemption.

But to deal with these feelings properly God gave us a very specific command. He does not say, “Pray and they will be removed.” He doesn’t ask us to turn these over to Him. He tells us to put them away. Think of a box of old clothing you’ve had stored somewhere for a long time. Maybe it was something you wore as a child and you just don’t want to get rid of it. But you look into the box and find the cloth moth-eaten, full of holes, stains that long ago became part of the fabric. Finally, though you may still feel that tug of emotion, you take the box out of your house and throw it in the trash. That is “putting it away.”

We’re still emotionally attached, however, and it’s still easy for us to “visit” that trash bin to see if it’s really gone. We’re that way with our feelings of anger, bitterness, and other negative emotions, too. Sometimes we just WANT to feel angry at what someone did. That’s why God tells us in the next verse that we need to replace what we “put away” with something positive:

Kindness
Tender-hearted
Forgiving

Don’t mistake these three items for mere emotions – they are far more than emotions when they are Godly, as the last part of verse 32 demonstrates. Our forgiveness of others must be as complete as Christ’s forgiveness of us. That was a choice, an action borne in great pain, for God. Yet, He carried it through. Our forgiveness of others is also a choice. Feelings and emotions will follow later – for now kindness, tender-heartedness and forgiveness is something we choose in obedience to our God who has done the same for us.
*What is one way in which we can grieve the Spirit?
*In order to deal with the six feelings listed, God tells us to ____ _____ _____
*What choices replace those feelings?