Together in Christ: 'Bringing Sorrow to the Holy Spirit' — Ephesians 4:30-31

How we speak to and treat others reveals something about a person's heart. If we have "bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior," then we are opposing the work of the Holy Spirit to transform us and use us to bless others in Jesus' name. These types of behaviors grieve the Spirit of God. Our actions and attitudes bring the Spirit of the living God sorrow. This kind of rebellious life has grieved God since the earliest days of humanity:

The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently evil continuously. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. ^[1]

We cannot bless and praise God and curse and demean other people who are created in the image of God without breaking the heart of God! ^[2] The Spirit is working for our total transformation to live like Jesus toward others. ^[3] Most of us know, however, that taming the tongue and using our speech only to bless is one of the most challenging transformations many believers in Christ must make. Unfortunately, we often give the sins of our tongue a free pass when we classify the worst of sins — probably because these sins are often our sin struggles  ^[4]. God, however, has made the truth very clear throughout the Scriptures: he hates the malicious, capricious, and careless use of our words ^[5] because they can do so much damage to another person. ^[6] When we use the gift of our speech to inflict pain on others, it grieves the Holy Spirit because we are working directly against His transforming work in us.