I have always wondered what the specifically meant. As Christian brothers and sisters we are admonished, or is it commanded, to not grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). In the next two verses, the Apostle Paul then lists a few sins that best describe what that actually means.

 These are actually the sins of the tongue that divide the very people that the Holy Spirit is supposed to bind together in Christian unity.

That’s right, sadly our tongues divide us more often than they bring us together in any form of Christian unity. The book of James then tells us how destructive the tongue can be when he compares it to the bit in a horse’s mouth, the rudder of a great ship, and the spark of fire that destroys a great forest.

So now, when I think of grieving the Holy Spirit, I remember to keep my mouth shut.

My mother had another way of putting it. “Everybody brings happiness. Some by coming and some by leaving.”