I told a lie, so what?
But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet.But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?While it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in.And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.Acts 5:1-11
This week, I wasn't sure what to write on for a while. I had read a good passage in Deuteronomy yesterday, but couldn't quite figure out what chapter it was in, so I decided I would do it instead on Ananias and Sapphira especially because of the small revelation I had this morning when I read about them.
As we have all been taught and read in the Bible, lying is wrong and a sin to God. It is so important that it is included in the ten commandments.
Do you ever ask yourself what you would do if you were in a certain situation spoken of in the Bible? Let's do that here. So, what would you have done if you were in that situation? Remember their sin was the lie that they told Peter and God not the fact that they kept back part of the proceeds. It was their choice how much to give Peter and the church, (kind of like a tithe) but they made up a story so that it sounded like they gave all of it when they really kept some for themselves which would of been fine if they hadn't lied about it.
How often do we lie in order to make ourselves look better? Probably more than we expect if we seriously examine ourselves. Well, anyway the thing that struck me this morning about this passage was how serious telling a lie is. I think we often make excuses for it and don't take it as a serious offense toward God like we should. I do, but I didn't really notice it until this morning. Ananias and Sapphira were punished for it by death. Imagine that. If God dealt that harshly with them don't you think He has just as much right to punish us with that now? That is frightening. We should fear God's power and what He can do to us especially when we disobey Him. He has mercy on us often, but we should not rely on that so much that we justify our sinful actions “expecting” God's mercy. It's up to Him. Having a respectful fear of God is supposed to help us think twice before we sin. It is there to help us not to make us scaredy cats of God.
On a side note, there is a bit of controversy over whether Ananias and Sapphira were Christians and went to heaven or hell or not. I would encourage you to do some research on it.
This week, let's seek to have the fear of the LORD on our hearts to resist temptation and turn away from sin. Especially ask God for help this week not to lie to yourself or to others. God sees the truth in your heart, so tell the truth for Him!
“Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear nor be dismayed. Deut 31:6,8b
