Good grief!

I heard today a sadly familiar story. A professing believer in Jesus, when confronted lovingly by a concerned Christian family member about the moral wrong, bibilical prohibition and potential damage of a lifestyle decision replied, "That's what you believe, but...(I'm going to live how I want to live).

I'm grieving over this. Partly because of her rebellion; partly because she wants no relationship with a church family although she has "trusted Jesus as her Savior"; partly because the dysfunction of her upbringing didn't teach her any differently. Mostly because it hurts to see her choose a way of life in opposition to what God would have her live.

As I was thinking of my own grief I was reminded by a still small voice that He grieves, too. In the middle of a discussion about all the bad stuff of life we've been freed from by Christ, Paul instructed the Ephesian believers, "And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live."

If our rebellion causes God sorrow and grief, I wonder if He ever has a tearless day?