Grieving your guest

And do not make God’s Holy Spirit sad; for the Spirit is God’s mark of ownership on you, a guarantee that the Day will come when God will set you free. Get rid of all bitterness, passion, and anger. No more shouting or insults, no more hateful feelings of any sort. Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ. (verses 30-32)

Read Ephesians 4:22-5:2

It’s like inviting someone as a guest in your house and then giving them a hard time. You mess up their room, foul up the bath and shower, let the food in the fridge go stale, damage the air conditioner, let the dirty dishes pile up in the sink, forget to hang out the washing and never buy any decent groceries.

That’s what it is like when we become a Christian and then continue with old habits of selfish thinking and bad behaviour. When we become one of God’s people, we receive God into our life. He comes to live in our mind and our heart, and our body becomes his home. If we continue to harbour grudges, let our negative emotions rage without control and act vindictively and maliciously towards others, we are heaping rubbish all over the Holy Spirit.

It’s better to let our special guest take over the house and allow him to ensure that love, forgiveness and clean living are characteristics of the new way of living.

Holy Spirit, I welcome you as a special guest in my life. Take my heart and make it your home through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Devotion by Richard Hauser in “God’s Peace for each day” (LCA, Openbook Publishers, 2005)

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