Be Kind and Forgive

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:30-32)

Did you know you can make the Holy Spirit sad? We make the Holy Spirit sad by not listening to Him and operating the opposite of God’s Word.

God wants the best for you and your life and when believers decide not to listen to Him or walk away from the plan God has for them, they shut down all the blessings and advantages God intended them to have. This makes the Holy Spirit very sad. How do we ensure we don’t walk away from the blessings of God and grieve the Holy Spirit?

Paul gave us a checklist of sorts, to ensure that we are walking with God and listening to the Holy Spirit. He said first to put away bitterness. The word bitterness in Greek means acidity. If you hold on to unforgiveness, it will poison your interactions with everyone. Learn to forgive quickly.

The second thing Paul said was to put away wrath and anger, and clamour and evil speaking. These all go together. Wrath is indignation; anger means vengeance; clamour means to cry out and evil speaking refers to cussing. These all have to do with speaking unkind words and allowing your flesh to control your mouth. Paul finished by saying what we should do to encourage the Holy Spirit: Be kind. He said to do this for Christ’s sake. We are kind because we understand our position in Christ. If people see those who say they believe in God acting bitter, hateful, and mean, they don’t see a need for Christ in their lives.

Practical Application – What words do you allow to come out of your mouth? Decide to only speak faith and strive to be kind in your interactions with other people.

Romans 12:10; Matthew 18:35