What Brings Joy to the Holy Spirit?

Ephesians 4:30 says "And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live." Last Sunday looking at this verse, we asked questions like what brings grief to the Holy Spirit and why that is. The next interesting question was, "What brings joy -- rather than grief -- to the Spirit?" Let's look at that for a moment.

First, seeking God's will and being open to the Holy Spirit's direction is an important step. There are tons of scriptures I could list here, including Romans 12:1-2 and Eph. 5:10. To do that, we have to lay down our own pride and self-direction, and be willing to admit that if we just follow facts and logic, we may not come to the conclusion God is leading us to. And it takes time and discipline to practice discernment -- but as we determine to seek and find the will of God, doesn't that bring joy to the Holy Spirit?

Next, deciding to respond without delay to the Spirit's promptings would give joy to the Spirit. There are plenty of examples of this in the Bible, the historical sections like Acts being some of the clearest. Philip, in Acts 8, immediately followed the Spirit's instruction to go alongside a chariot, where he found a man from Ethiopia ready to receive the Good News. In Acts 15:28, there is a summary of a much more lengthy discussion about the Gentiles who were coming in as believers, and it says simply that this decision "seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us" and a letter was sent out to all the churches detailing what was decided. I wonder if the Spirit does a "happy dance" when we determine to obey quickly?

Third, let me suggest deciding to treat everyone with love, no matter what the situation, brings the Spirit's love into everything in life. God is love (1 John 4:8) so it is important to let his love, which the Spirit brings, flow freely. Now, our normal human response probably doesn't look the same as God's love -- so the decision to surrender to the Spirit's love, by loving others as God loves, would seem likely to bring joy to the Spirit.

Now, this whole discussion might seem a little unimportant to you, but let's look again at Eph. 5:10 which says "Carefully determine what pleases the Lord." Knowing how much God has done to save us and what we owe him as our response, I think that's reason enough, don't you?