Paul approaches admonitions to us knowing what we are prone to. We ARE justified and sure of the glory of the Lord in the blood of Christ, yet we are still in the body of this flesh. Paul would like us to understand that we are the temples of the Holy Spirit as God dwells in us at all times. He continues admonishing living a sanctified and holy life. Yet this admonition stands out among the rest..."Do not grieve the Holy Spirit!" We need to be sensitive.

Who: Paul is speaking of the Spirit of God to underscore it is GOD who dwells within us. Note that the Spirit is still irresistible but we deal with the large amount of time between justification and glorification. God lives in tabernacles in our body. This is much more than keeping your bodies in shape. We perform all the works of sanctification in the temples that God occupies. God lives in our hearts and dwells in us and we are temples. Temples of the Living God! We like to compartmentalize our lives, but it is our very essence. The personal of the Living God is within us! The same Spirit poured out at Pentecost is the one in us! He is interested in God's glory and its furtherance. Often we are so busy here below we forget about His glory, His purpose, and His endeavour.

How: You and I can grieve the Holy Spirit and can bring Him to tears. (Think of our Lord Jesus Christ who was God yet took abode in our flesh among sinfulness all around Him. Became very flesh. Paul admonishes not to grieve Him negatively here as we are prone to do. No! Don't do it! Quit it! We have to fight our very own flesh and the world around us which the Holy Spirit hates. Rear Galatians 5. The Holy Spirit hates and despises these things and when we dabble in them we grieve the Holy Spirit. It cannot be pious talking but it must be the walk! We can wear our Sunday best, but with God it means NOTHING! God looks at the heart where the guilt is. It is grieving the Spirit of God in both sine of omission and commission with outright sin and omitting what we should be doing. Very concrete things when we should be about the glory of Almighty God! How much electronics at the lack of an open Bible? Studying and saturating ourselves in His word instead of being entertained?

Why: The Spirit will withdraw from us in our sin. He will not leave or condemn us as Christians, but will chasten. We wonder often why our children who we love will not listen to us at various times and so too we can grieve the Spirit within us.