Could I Be Grieving the Heart of God
Could I be Grieving the Heart of God?
What grieves the heart of God? Am I causing Him to grieve? Oh, I would never want to cause Him grief. How can I know if I am?
Last week, we began studying the Beatitudes. I believe it is a list of who God has created us to become. Jesus was sitting and sharing with His disciples, teaching them the way of life for believers. Our lifestyle should be radically different from the lifestyle of those who do not know Him. Is it? We say we believe; we say we love God with all our heart, soul and mind; yet here we are causing Him grief.
It hurts to even type those words. So, let’s dig in and study what His word says so that we can stop this. Let’s look back at the Beatitudes.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Matthew 5:4
This scripture is one of a list of scriptures. So when we study the list, we see this is about more than our grief when we lose someone we love. Biblical scholars tell us that Jesus is referring to mourning that is due to grief over our sin. So, let’s ask ourselves “are we recognizing, mourning and repenting of our sins”? Oh, it is so easy to see the sins of others; but we can choose to turn a blind eye when it comes to our own sinfulness. We excuse it, justify it and explain it away, don’t we? And… scripture tells us that when we do, we grieve the heart of God.
In Ephesians, we read that our sexual immorality (5:3-5) grieves the heart of God. Most of us reading this blog are not engaging in that – so we are good, right? Wait. There is more… we are to no longer live as pagans (4:17-19); rationalizing our sin. A relationship with Jesus should prompt us to be in a perpetual cycle of change and growth in our thoughts, in our attitudes and our actions.
Our sins that are so easily justified and we explain away instead of repenting include lying (4:25) which creates conflict, destroys trust and damages relationships. We get angry and are easily offended (4:26-27) which when not handled properly leads us to vent thoughtlessly and hurt others or bottle it up hurting ourselves and creating bitterness.
In Chapter 4, verses 28-32 Paul warns us against stealing, cursing, becoming bitter and being unforgiving. All of these things are secret sins that we tuck away and deny. Stealing is taking anything that is not ours – whether emotionally or physically. We are to use our hands for good work and give generously to others. Cursing is foul or abusive language which is the opposite of speaking life and being an encourager. We are to get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander – which are all evil behaviors. We are to be kind, loving, tender hearted. When? Always. Forgiving others just as God through Christ has forgiven us. All of these things are sins that should grieve our hearts because they grieve the heart of God.
Could I be grieving the heart of God? Yes, you could be. How do we stop it? We elevate Him to His proper place in our lives – first place. We look to Him, study His word, spend time in prayer and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal our sin to us. Then because this sin grieves the heart of God, we are grieved. We mourn. We repent, asking God to forgive us and we turn from these behaviors. We ask God to develop within us a sensitivity to our personal sinfulness and a tender heart toward others.
Then what does God do? He comforts us. We crawl up in His lap, telling Him how sorry we are and He wraps His big loving arms around us and offers us grace… comfort and grace.
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