They Fell Down Dead

  
  Now a man names Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.

  Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

  When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

  About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”

  “Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

  Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

  At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.    (Acts 5:1-10 NIV)

Lately, I have heard the phrase "My word is my bond" a lot. I wish that were true. I have been lied to and about so many times that there is no way that I can even begin to count the times. Frankly, it makes me a bit weary. Sometimes, the lies are used to make someone look like someone they are not; like they are in the right and are doing good for others; while they, in truth, are not. They are only trying to lift themselves up. Often I am able to tell if someone is lying to me is if they are glorifying themselves and the works of their own hands rather than glorifying God. No one is as good as they would suggest.     

Ananias and his wife Sapphira attempted to glorify themselves unjustly. They attempted to make themselves look righteous. They wanted to look as generous as the others who had sold their property and gave the proceeds to the church for the good of all of the people. But, they had withheld some. Their sin was not just in keeping some for themselves. Their sin was in attempting to lie to God the Holy Spirit. God knows everything we say and think and do. It is just a bad idea to try lying to God. The humans that we might tell lies to; usually know that we are not telling the whole truth; but, not always. But, God always knows the truth.

The rest of the story for Ananias and Sapphira was that when they lied to Peter and to God, they died. They died immediately. When we lie to protect ourselves and our own egos; to make ourselves look more righteous than others, a bit of us dies inside, as well. When we cause harm to others and to the church with our lies, we may or may not get away with it here on earth. But, God knows what we have done and those who speak without integrity will answer to Him.  

May God help us to speak with integrity at all times that His Name might be glorified.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Transparency

"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." Heb 12:13

Transparency... That word has been used an awful lot lately. The problem is we often apply it to someone else's attempts to cover up their true motivations. It makes me weary spending so much time attempting to discern the truth when people work so hard to hide it. I am of the nature that when I feel I am being lied to, I take the time to confront the lie so we can get to the bottom of it and get on with what we are called to do: live life in Christ. I need the truth to live and Jesus, by the way, is the truth.

We cannot be of any real help to anyone if we don't know what the problem really is. Half-truths (which are lies) just compound any issues that need to be dealt with. "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8

As Christians, we are to be transparent and that goes for politicians who claim to be Christians. The people whom are actions will affect deserve to know the truth. Transparency with the people we are called to serve is a good thing. It is the honest thing. It is the godly thing.

We can hide our real motivations and even think that no one knows. But, God knows. The one to whom we will give account knows all of those secret motivations and actions that we think we've been able to cover up. Not only does God know; but, the actions of those who attempt to hide their evil plans are in reality known by others who have a sincere desire to seek the truth.

May God help us all to be more transparent in what we say and do so that we might be able to serve God and all of His people more faithfully, to the glory of God.

God's Peace - Pr. J