1Ananias and his wife Sapphira also sold a piece of property. 2But
they agreed to cheat and keep some of the money for themselves.
So when Ananias took the rest of the money to the apostles, 3Peter said, "Why has Satan made you keep back some of the money from the sale of the property? Why have you lied to the Holy Spirit? 4The property was yours before you sold it, and even after you sold it, the money was still yours. What made you do such a thing? You didn't lie to people. You lied to God!"
5As soon as Ananias heard this, he dropped dead, and everyone who heard about it was frightened. 6Some young men came in and wrapped up his body. Then they took it out and buried it.
7Three hours later Sapphira came in, but she did not know what had happened to her husband. 8Peter asked her, "Tell me, did you sell the property for this amount?"
"Yes," she answered, "that's the amount."
9Then Peter said, "Why did the two of you agree to test the Lord's Spirit? The men who buried Ananias are by the door, and they will carry you out!" 10At once she fell at Peter's feet and died.
When the young men came back in, they found Sapphira lying there dead. So they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11The church members were afraid, and so was everyone else who heard what had happened.
When I was working at the Air Force Academy a young cadet was killed when he attempted to jump from his dorm window to a nearby light pole. I’m sure he thought he would be successful.
We rarely know the true consequences of our actions ahead of time. Sometimes we can anticipate them with a fair degree of accuracy. But, not always.
Ask Ananias and sapphire…
I’m pretty sure they expected to be lauded for their generosity. I’m positive they didn’t anticipate what actually happened. In their case, it was more than just a minor miscalculation.
I’ve heard it said that “we can’t fool Mother Nature”. We now know it’s at least as true that we cannot fool the Holy Spirit. The irony here is that Ananias and Sapphira were under no obligation to give anything to the church. They could have kept every dollar. It appears they wanted to appear charitable when they were they were actually selfish.
So, I suppose the real sin here is selfishness (putting ourselves ahead of everything else). Actually, why else would we ever tell a lie? The real transgression is not the lie…lying is just a symptom.
Fortunately, every lie is not immediately fatal. That means we can learn. Next time we are tempted to be untruthful (or actually are) we should use that occasion to ask “what’s going on in my spirit that’s tempting me to do this?” Whatever it is…God doesn’t like it…and He will know. I promise.
I might not kill us immediately but the cumulative effect eventually will.
Most of us have learned, from experience, that it would be nice to be able to forecast our future. I, for one, could have prevented a good deal of trouble in my life if I could just see a little way into the future. Since it’s a gift we will never have, I suggest we just keep it honest…
Live boldly out there today…
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