In this chapter, Ananias and his wife Sapphira lied to Peter, but worse than that, they lied to the Holy Spirit. Then the apostles were persecuted because of their faith. How is your stand with the Lord? Does your faith embrace honesty and boldness?
As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him.. Acts 5:5-6
In this chapter, Ananias with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. They brought money from the sale to the apostles, but they lied about how much they got for it.
They reported that they gave all of what they got, but they had kept a portion for themselves. It was their money and they could have been honest and said they were giving only some of the money. They lied to the Holy Spirit, and they both dropped dead.
How times have changed! If someone were to fall dead in church today, there would be a full investigation. I can hear it now.
“Sir, what exactly happened before so and so allegedly dropped dead.” “Hum, he lied about the offering he gave.” “So sir, you are telling me you killed him because he didn’t give enough in the offering.” “No, you have it all wrong!” “Cuff him. He’s going down to the station.”
It seemed that no one outside the church cared that two people had just dropped dead in the church.
The Jewish leaders were more concerned about the teachings of Jesus than a possible homicide
Boldness
Later in this chapter, the apostles were arrested because they were talking about Jesus in public, a subject the religious leaders didn’t like. During the night, God released them from the jail, and they went back to the temple and continued to talk in public about the same subject.
They were arrested again, but they found nothing to hold them on. When they were released before being arrested this time, it’s almost like they had left without getting their complimentary flogging.
What does this have to do with anything you may deal with today? Maybe nothing, except that serving God needs to always be our number one priority in life.
Also, we must always be honest, because when we lie, as a Christian, we are lying to the Holy Spirit and sinning against God.
Lord, help our faith embrace honesty and boldness which are the major themes of this chapter. Empower us in these two areas, even if it means we may face persecution
Here are 4 other related devotions about faith.
- How To Supplement Your Faith In God
- How Do You Handle Forced Faith?
- Is My Faith Being Tested During A Storm In Life?
- When Your Faith Is Tested How Do You Handle It?
To read this story in the Bible, click here.
If your Christian walk has not had the integrity of honesty and boldness then check out this post called, There is a Standard.
You would enjoy reading the cornerstone post on discipleship called How To Be An Effective Devoted Disciple Of Jesus.
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