Grief, the Sister of Double-Mindedness

“Take grief away from yourself,” he said, “for grief is the sister of double-mindedness and of quick temper.” “How, sir,” I said, “is she their sister? Quick temper seems to me one thing, double-mindedness another, and grief another.” “You have no sense, man,” he said. “Do you not see that grief is the most wicked of all the spirits, and the most terrible to God’s servants? More than all the other spirits it destroys a person and stamps out the Holy Spirit — and then again it saves him.” “I have no sense, sir,” I said, “and I do not understand these parables. How grief can stamp the Spirit out and then again save, I do not see.” [a]

“Listen,” he said. “There are people who have never searched into the truth or looked into the divine nature. They only believed, and then got themselves tangled up in business and wealth and friendships with pagans and many other affairs of this present age. All who are devoted to such things do not understand the parables of the divine nature. Their minds are darkened by these doings; they are ruined, and they go to waste.

“Fine vineyards, when they are left untended, run wild with thorns and every kind of weed. It is the same with people who have believed and then fall into the many doings I have just named. They wander away from their own good sense. They understand nothing at all about righteousness; and even when they hear about the divine nature and about truth, their mind is taken up with their own business, and they understand nothing at all.

“But those who have the fear of God, who search into the divine nature and truth, and who keep their heart turned toward the Lord — they take in and understand what is said to them more quickly, because the fear of the Lord is in them. For where the Lord lives, there is much understanding too. So cling to the Lord, and you will understand everything and take it all in.”

“Listen then, foolish man,” he said, “to how grief stamps out the Holy Spirit, and how it also saves. [g]

“When a double-minded man sets his hand to something and fails at it because of his double-mindedness, this grief comes into the man; it grieves the Holy Spirit and stamps it out. “Then again, when quick temper fastens on a man over some matter and he turns very bitter, grief comes into the heart of the man who lost his temper. He is grieved at what he did, and he repents, because what he did was evil.

“So this grief seems to have salvation in it, because the man repented after doing what was evil. Both of these actions grieve the Spirit. Double-mindedness grieves it, because it did not get what it set out to do; and quick temper grieves the Spirit because it did what was evil. So both are grievous to the Holy Spirit — double-mindedness and quick temper.

“Take grief away from yourself, then, and do not press hard on the Holy Spirit that lives in you, in case it makes an appeal to God and leaves you. For the Spirit of God that was given to this flesh does not put up with grief or with being hemmed in.

“Put on cheerfulness instead. It is always pleasing and acceptable to God, so take your delight in it. Every cheerful man does good and thinks good, and he despises grief; but the sorrowful man is always doing what is wicked. First he does wickedly because he grieves the Holy Spirit, which was given to man as a cheerful spirit. Second, by grieving the Holy Spirit he works lawlessness, since he neither appeals to the Lord nor confesses to him. For the appeal of a sorrowful man never has the strength to rise to the altar of God.”

“Why, sir,” I said, “does the appeal of a grieving man not rise to the altar?” “Because grief sits in his heart,” he said. “Grief mixed in with his appeal will not let the appeal rise pure to the altar of God. Vinegar and wine, mixed in the same jar, do not give the pleasure that wine alone gives; in the same way grief mixed with the Holy Spirit does not produce the appeal that the Holy Spirit alone would produce. Clean yourself of this wicked grief and you will live to God — and everyone will live to God who drives grief away and puts on cheerfulness in full.”