But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. - Acts 5:1-6
How often do we hold onto to physical things with unyielding ownership. MINE.
How did Ananias sin?
Yes, he lied. He attempted to deceive men into thinking he had a higher degree of faith than that which he truly possessed. He lied to the Holy Spirit. He spoke a lie, and he passed it off as truth. And may God protect us from blindly falling into this same way of thinking… May He protect us from that, because we are prone to that. We lie about having faith that we do not have. We pretend we don’t struggle with sin. We claim a personal victory over something we should be Christ-dependent for. We highlight our bibles with different colors. We take selfies of our devotions. We announce our fasts. We publicly pray AT people instead of privately, sincerely pray TO GOD for them. God forgive our lies.
But could there be something DEEPER?
God is generous to us. He rains on the just and on the unjust. But the fact that we own ANYTHING is preposterous. Man truly created nothing. We “create” things with borrowed materials. Atoms, molecules, and elements carefully crafted by a Genius Architect. Living beings we see as materials graciously given to us for our good by a loving Father.
Well, back to Ananias… The property was always his (as “his” as it could be, for all intents and purposes). And he could have acknowledged God (and acknowledged God’s generous gifts to him), and very well could have kept it as such. Our God gives us good and perfect gifts. But Ananias didn’t see it that way. He saw the property as his own. No doubt, he thought whatever claim he had to it was valid and binding, whether it be inheritance or even good old fashioned hard work… in his eyes it was his… Not God’s. The deceit was merely a fruit of the greater underlying condition… A disregard for God and the character of God as the Sovereign Creator.
But we keep things. We live in America. We have houses. We have cars. We have iPhones. We have big screen TVs. We get fat paychecks (because even part-time, minimum wage paychecks are fat in comparison to some third world countries mostly salaries.) Whether we are to sell them and live life in the style of 1st century Christianity, or to enjoy the gifts and callings of God, the answer to this conundrum would be a result of personal conviction from a personal relationship with the God who invites to count it all as lost and to enjoy His gifts. The thing Ananias lacked… A relationship with God. The God that would have been acknowledged in His giving of gifts (or rather loans) or in the surrendering back to Him what He already possesses.
So whether you have sold everything you owned to be a missionary in a third world country and live off the grace of God, or if God has blessed you with the prosperous American dream and has allowed you to enjoy the fruit of the hard work He fueled you to perform…
May Christ be all in all.
May His knowledge of our good be the reason for our poverty and may He be praised in it. And may He credited as the giver of good gifts in our times of harvest.
May Christ be all in all.
