And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Eph.4:30-5:2
In this passage I see three ways to become more Christ-like or three ways to stop sinning and live a life that God would be proud of. First is to allow the Holy Spirit, who we've been given at salvation and is with us until we pass through the gates of Heaven, to transform us. The Sheep and Goats parable in Matthew is so often misunderstood especially by Catholics who claim salvation is faith plus works. When we stand before the Lord someday and He appears to judge whether we pass through the pearly gates or go to Hell, it appears from the parable that He judges what we do. My contention is that He already has separated us into two categories - sheep (saved) and goats (damned). You don't have to be head butted by a goat to know it's a goat. It's clearly a goat before it does anything. We were goats until the Holy Spirit came inside and now, we are a new creation - sheep, and sheep act like sheep. We are born again of the Holy Spirit, transformed from goats to sheep. My friend, Alex, who lived in the country said that every day as he would drive by a goat herd, he would lay on his horn. He said all the young goats would instantly fall over on their sides and play dead. The older ones didn't because they had matured out of that. I know I'm mixing metaphors with sheep and goats, but you catch my drift. We will change our behavior automatically as we mature in Christ.
That is intrinsic growth, but what can we practically do to change? Secondly Paul says don't grieve the Holy Spirit by our actions. Growing up, I would occasionally do things that would be reported to my parents. Once I got a job to distribute flyers to doors advertising a sale at the local department store. I was given 500 and I would get 2 cents for everyone I passed out. That was an easy $10, so I thought. Have you ever trick- or- treated? 100 houses is quite a feat, and I soon realized that 500 houses would be a major undertaking. Being the sinful lad I was, I started leaving 3 or 4 flyers at each house. Someone called and reported it to the department store (who does that? God always kept me on a short leash) and called my dad who was grieved by my behavior. The last thing I wanted to do was grieve my dad. I wanted him to be proud of me. I'd like to say I was honest from then on, but this helped me to increase in honesty. We should want our Heavenly Father to be proud of us and not grieve Him with our sins.
Lastly, just as in the parable of the unforgiving debtor, if we truly realize God's grace and mercy to us, if we really understand His forgiveness, if we grasp His love for us, to not show grace and mercy to others, to hold contempt, anger, rage against someone without offering forgiveness, to withhold love from the undeserving, shows that we just don't get it. As we understand the gospel, to not act like Christ is shameful. There is a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode where Larry holds open the door to the doctor's office out of courtesy to the person behind him, and then the ensuing fight with the person who signs in before him, so Larry has to wait. The comedy is that we deep down know that if we are shown courtesy, it is only right to return that courtesy. Likewise, after all that Christ has done for us, it is only right to return that goodness.
Let's continue to become more like Jesus. Two steps forward, one step backward day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year.
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