Written by Pastor Mark Driskill
November 22, 2011

Read Ephesians 4:30

“and do not grieve the Holy Spirit…”

I have absolutely no talent when it comes to music. I’m the only one in my house who has not even one sliver of ability when it comes to playing any kind of instrument. Even my radio plays tricks on me. My musical career began and ended very early in my life. At the age of six I was sent to piano lessons along with my siblings. I went for about a week, then it was over. Actually I thought I was doing pretty well. I would sit next to my piano teacher barely listening to her instructions. Then when she tried to get me to play the notes in the beginner piano book I would simply bang away on the piano with no regard for the notes. But in my mind the sound was delightful.

I had no idea that the smile on my piano teachers face was covering up the frustration she was feeling at my wild renditions which had nothing at all to do with the song I was to play. I was content to bang away on the keys and make all kinds of noise. Following notes on a page was of no consequence to me. Eventually the teacher concluded that I was not quite mature enough to take formal lessons and maybe I should wait a little longer until I had some maturity. I think this is a great illustration of grieving the Holy Spirit.

As my teacher sat beside me on the piano bench, so the Holy Spirit comes along side the believer with the purpose of guiding and teaching us to play out the song of redemption God has placed within us through his son. Unfortunately we spend a great deal of time banging out our own songs with no real regard for the leadership of the one who has sealed us for redemption. We much prefer to play by our instincts than follow any promptings of the Spirit.

The real delusion is that we imagine that God is perfectly happy with our way of living when in fact the Spirit is grieved by our random banging away. I don’t think we realize how serious it is when we grieve or frustrate the Holy Spirit with our self focused way of living. We forget that Jesus placed the sins against the Holy Spirit as having a greater consequence than sins against the Son himself (Mark 3:28-29). The Christian life is a life lived by the Spirit, not apart from Him. And yet so many barely acknowledge that there is a Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is grieved when we seek to live our lives for Jesus but apart from the power and leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Let me close by asking you this question: If the Holy Spirit were to pull out of your life and service to Christ right now, would you notice a difference? If he left your church, would the emptiness be felt? Or would you just go on with business as usual? Let us stop banging away on the piano and listen for the leadership of the Spirit in all our ways. Let us look to the word of God that we may see the notes the Spirit is Calling us to play. The we will become partners with God rather than competitors against Him.

Pastor Mark Driskill
Web Minister of Begotten By the Word web ministry
See our website at http://ourchurch.com/member/b/bbtw
and
www.facebook.com (to group “begotten by the word”)
Begotten By the Word is a ministry of Helping Hands Christian resources-Evangelism Outreach
www.hhcr05.org
(Feel free to copy in any way that will bring glory to God and further his kingdom.)