Dragging Him Along

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

I am sure you have had this experience at one time or another in your life. It may have been with a friend, your date, your spouse or a relative. It’s the experience of being taken somewhere that you would rather not be. Possibly a friend takes you out for a night on the town and you end up in some sleazy bar on the wrong side of town. You stand there feeling uncomfortable amongst the drunks who are stumbling around in the dark room. Smoke fills the air and your lungs gasp for oxygen as they suggest you leave before you become a poster child for lung cancer. People who you would rather not be seen with come up and ask you to dance. Overall it’s a rather unpleasant experience and you’re grieved beyond words for what your friend has done to you.

 

Maybe you’re out on a date with that special person and what you thought was going to be a night of fun and entertainment turns out to be a test of endurance. Your date has gotten tickets to a concert but you had no idea it would be for a heavy metal concert where all manner of sin and debauchery are taking place. You smell the odor of marijuana and even see people in the back of the concert hall shooting up. You see individuals exposing body parts to the band members as cheers of encouragement are offered in worship to the singers and musicians. Your ears feel like they want to retract into your head because your tender eardrums are flapping like a flag in a hurricane. You feel hurt that your date thought you would have enjoyed this type of activity.

 

Yet another experience you might have had is being taken by a close relative to go shopping for groceries at the local convenience store. You want to visit with them while they shop but you had no idea that they wanted to stock up on pornographic magazines. You disdain such filthy material and want nothing to do with it. Unfortunately they grab you and ask your opinion about which magazine has the best centerfold. You cringe at the sights set before you for you know such printed trash degrade men and women and are a perversion of the deepest sort. You want desperately to leave, but your supposedly loving relative won’t have it. They insist you look at the pictures with them and remain until they have made their lustful decision.

 

We’ve all been in situations where we wish we were somewhere else. We experience anger, remorse, grief, and all sorts of emotions that trouble us as we strive to deal with such experiences. I wonder if these are the sorts of emotions that the Holy Spirit feels as we drag Him through our sins of the day? Ephesians 4:30 reveals that this very likely does occur.

 

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,

with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

 

The Greek word for grieve in this verse is “lupeo” which means to be distressed or sad, to grieve or to be heavy with sorrow. Think hard and long on these words. They define for us the emotions of the Holy Spirit when we expose Him to our sins. Think of an experience when you were distressed about something. Think of a situation where you were deeply saddened. Can you think of a time when you grieved and your heart, mind and soul were heavy with sorrow? Those are the emotions that the Holy Spirit experiences when you sin.

 

If you are a Believer, a Christian, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Spirit living within you. He is with you every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day. You take Him with you wherever you go. He experiences every action you take. He knows everything about each decision you make. What you see with your eyes, He sees. Whatever you do in your daily activities He is there with you. If you visit the store to buy a pornographic magazine you have taken Him with you. If you arrange a secret meeting with that married man or woman who is the spouse of someone else, He sits there inside of you during your inappropriate tryst. If you fudge the books at work, He sees every keystroke you make on the computer. If you fail to minister to someone God brings into your life for that specific purpose, you grieve the Holy Spirit. Your behavior as a child of God can bring great joy and pleasure to the Spirit, but it can also bring tremendous grief and sadness. God is not some bearded old man sitting in a rocking chair in heaven watching us down on the earth. He is present everywhere all the time. He sees everything we do. The Holy Spirit lives within each Christian and knows not only every action we take, but also every thought we think. This brings up another possible source of grief for the Holy Spirit.

 

In Matthew 5:28 a very convicting reality of our spiritual lives is revealed. Here Jesus makes a statement of fact that inward thoughts count just as much to God as outward actions. Jesus tells us that if a man looks upon a woman lustfully, thinking of committing adultery with her, he has in reality, in God’s eyes, already done so.

 

God is concerned not only with our physical actions, but also the imagined actions in our hearts and minds. We can therefore grieve the Spirit of God by thinking sin as well. We very likely boast of our good behavior but can any man or woman boast that they haven’t committed sin in their thoughts. Have you ever wished you could kill someone for their actions and been proud that you didn’t do it? Spiritually you sinned with your thoughts of doing them personal harm. Have you ever looked upon a man or woman you were not married to and lusted to touch them and thought how virtuous you were because you never took any action on your thoughts? In God’s eyes you still committed a sin. You grieved the Holy Spirit. I wonder if we can fathom the depth of grief we cause the Holy Spirit on a single day. When I examine my own life and begin to take account of rambling thoughts I have had, sinful considerations in my mind, evil emotional plans formulated in my heart, I am ashamed of the sadness and sorry that I have caused the Holy Spirit. How about you?

 

Christians are called to a life of holiness. Living a holy life is not a burden, it is meant to be a joyful experience. We are to live our lives as Christians in a close relationship with our Heavenly Father. When we stay close to Him through prayer and fellowship our mind will dwell on Him and His commands, our heart will entertain pure and ethical emotions, our soul will be at peace and we will seek to walk the highway of holiness spoken of in Isaiah 35:8. If we are setting our minds on the things above, we won’t have to worry about doing and thinking the things below that grieve the Spirit. Believe it or not, when the Spirit is happy, we are happy. When the Spirit is at peace with us, we are at peace with the Spirit.

 

When we first come under conviction of the grief we cause the Holy Spirit when we sin, we can’t see how we can avoid behaving like this over and over again. In the flesh we will continually sin. But if we seek to listen to the Holy Spirit for guidance and pray for Him to give us the power we need we can rest in the Spirit living through us. When we walk in the Spirit we will not live in our flesh and grieve the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:16-17 speaks of this when it says,

 

“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.”

 

The Holy Spirit burns like a refiner’s fire within us. His purpose is to purge our heart, mind and soul of sinful thoughts and desires. He assists us in dying to the flesh, the old person we were before we became a child of God. When we fail to listen to Him and seek our own way of sin, we quench the hot pure spiritual fire of influence He has on our life. We smother the power that can enable us to avoid sin and we shut our ears to His whispers of truthful advice.

 

Thessalonians 5:19 speaks of this when is says, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.”

 

The Holy Spirit is given to us who are Christians as a comforter and guide. Please don’t cause Him grief and sorrow by dragging Him into sinful actions or thoughts. Please don’t quench His purifying presence by ignoring His wise counsel. Please don’t refuse the unlimited power He can give you to walk the highway of holiness. You are not living your life of a Christian alone, you have the Holy Spirit within you at all times. Think deeply about this as you strive to live according to the calling of holiness.

 

2 Corinthians 7:1

“Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”