Disobedience to the Word of God grieves the Holy Spirit. Ungodly thoughts grieve the Holy Spirit. When we prioritize entertainment over prayer, we grieve the Holy Spirit. When we ignore His gentle voice, we grieve the Holy Spirit. When we are more committed to interacting on social media than we are to reading the Bible, we grieve the Holy Spirit. When we allow anger to get the best of us, lust to control us, and fear to dominate us, we grieve the Holy Spirit.
Like in the days of Noah: people were living life as usual. Calamity fell upon them unexpectedly, from seemingly nowhere. So it will be in our day. Many will be busy with their usual living - people will be marrying, graduating, raising families, starting businesses, indulging in pleasures, and carrying on with life as they know it.
Bitterness seeks revenge. Forgiveness seeks reconciliation. Bitterness lives in the past. Forgiveness frees you to dream about the future. Bitterness says, “Because they owe me.” Forgiveness says, Because I owe God.” Bitterness pushes guilt. Forgiveness lifts burdens. Bitterness seeks to prove a point. Forgiveness let’s it go. Bitterness accuses. Forgiveness covers.
But remember, we still don’t know whether or not the pharisees had already committed it or were merely coming close to committing it. The Biblical text implies a very deep-rooted form of sin. You can’t commit this sin on accident, yet we should still tread carefully. After all, I don’t want to inspire ease where Jesus sought to inspire fear.
