Daily Walk Through the New Testament

September 18
Read Acts 5:1-21

Ananias and Sapphira lacked what we all should strive to have: personal integrity and a desire  for God to remove selfishness from our lives. Sadly, they instead set out to deliberately deceive Peter and the other apostles. They pretended to have a great love for God and then lied about their generous financial gift to the church. What did it cost them? Their lives! We may not necessarily lie about our giving, but we do lie about other things. We often pretend to be devoted to God just to impress our family and friends. Ananias committed this sin unto death.
The truth is that the spirit of Ananias and Sapphira is still alive in the church today. If Christians today were judged by the motives of the heart as Ananias & Sapphira were, the average church would probably lose a majority of their members. When we sing, teach, or play instruments, are we truly doing it all to God’s glory? We go to church and convince ourselves that grace means tolerance and that trying to deceive God and others isn’t a big deal.
When God taught the church a great lesson that day, fear gripped the church. What we need today is another awakening of the fear of God. Ananias & Sapphira wanted acceptance so much that they became pretenders. When they did, they allowed Satan, and not the Holy Spirit, to fill their hearts. The Holy Spirit never promotes deception. In fact, He promotes love and truth. In the name of Jesus, let’s covet truth.