When Our Priorities Grieve the Holy Spirit

I remember being floored back in April this year (2019). That was when the famous Notre Dame Cathedral caught fire in Paris, France. This came back to my mind recently as I read an update on how repairs to the cathedral were progressing.

People were grieved, crushed, and devastated by this unfortunate event, but the things that we weren't bothered by are events that probably grieved the Holy Spirit. Honestly, I think that the Holy Spirit was grieved by the response of the Church. We were so upset over a *building* that people were posting about it, donating to fix it, and raising awareness of this tragedy. Yet, we were largely silent regarding the world refugee crisis. We weren't donating to help asylum seekers at our door. We weren't raising awareness over human rights violations & violence happening in parts of Asia & Africa that were happening at the same time.

When we care more about buildings than lives being lost, we grieve the Holy Spirit.
When we care more about our safety & comfort than helping those trying to survive, we grieve the Holy Spirit.
When we aren't bothered by those who are fleeing violence & persecution, the Holy Spirit is grieved.

This should bother us, but we don't seem to be losing sleep over the children still detained in for-profit prisons within our borders. We don't seem impacted over the plight of the refugees or asylum-seekers. We aren't broken over those enslaved around the world & even in our own countries today.

So what needs to happen?
We need to change. We need to ask God to shift the priorities in our heart until our hearts match His. We should ask the Spirit to help us let go of the things that aren't important and focus our time, energy, and money on God's kingdom priorities.

May we be filled with a passion and a boldness for actually telling other people the Good News.
May we use the variety of news sources, not just to catch up on local or national news, but to pray over world events.
May we find ways to simplify our lives so we can give our time, talents, and money to help those on the margins of society.

May we be grieved and broken over the things that grieve the Spirit. And may we be moved to get involved to work towards righting injustices and interceding those who can't speak for themselves.