Our concern about not grieving the Spirit ultimately reflects our own grief for failing our God. Curiously, this grief is also the Spirit’s witness in our heart that we are God’s children. Without the Spirit, we might still grieve over the consequences of our sin, but our grief would be for our own hurt. Only the presence of the Spirit in us enables us to love God so much that we truly grieve for the hurt we cause him. In this way godly sorrow for sin confirms—rather than challenges—our standing with God (2 Cor. 7:9–11).
