Ephesians 4:25-5:2
This passage ties directely to the previous couple of verses where Paul reminds his audience that they were taught to put of their former way of living, to be made new in their thinking and to put on their new identity which was created to be like God (pure and holy). Here Paul gives some specific examples: put off lies and put on truth, put off unrighteous anger and put on peacemaking, put off stealing and put on honest working, put off unwholesome speaking and put on talk that builds others up, put off bitterness, rage and malice and put on kindness, compassion and forgiveness.
I resonate with this teaching - you can't just stop doing something, you have to replace it with something else and, at least according to Paul, the best thing to replace it with is the opposite (falsehood vs. truth, etc.). This makes sense to me and is hugely practical (which I love! I'm always asking the question "How?").
There are a couple of phrases that are challenging to me in this passage. The first is not to grieve the Holy Spirit. In the context I think what this means is that he is prompting us to take off the bad and put on the good plus he is offering us his help to do it and when I refuse, I greive him. This is because his goal is to bring glory to Christ and when my behaviour does not, he has been prevented (at least temporarily) from doing his job in my life and that grieves him.
The second is "follow God's example." I know that this is impossible to for me to do. I can't love in the self-sacrificing way that Christ loved me. I can't forgive in the completely selfless way that God forgave me. I am too proud, too selfish, too oriented around self-preservation. The only way that I can follow God's example is if the Holy Spirit changes my attitude and mindset (which, according to v.22-24, he has done or is in the process of doing) so that I have the desire to love and forgive, etc. AND if he gives me the strength to do the impossible (which, from the rest of the Bible, I know that he can). So, Holy Spirit, come and renew me and empower me!
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1 comment:
It is so true, giving up old habits is impossible without replacing them with something else, hopefully something better. I am not totally sure what it means to grieve the Holy Spirit, it is an interesting concept, something that I would like to learn alot more about. I just heard a sermon recently about grieving the Holy Spirit, is it just that we sin and like you said it grieve him, or is there more to it? I don't totally know, if you have any more about this I would like to hear it.
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