Acts 5:1-11
But a man named Ananias—his wife,
Sapphira, conniving in this with him—sold a piece of land, secretly kept
part of the price for himself, and then brought the rest to the
apostles and made an offering of it.
Peter said, “Ananias, how
did Satan get you to lie to the Holy Spirit and secretly keep back part
of the price of the field? Before you sold it, it was all yours, and
after you sold it, the money was yours to do with as you wished. So what
got into you to pull a trick like this? You didn’t lie to men but to
God.”
Ananias, when he heard those words, fell down dead. That
put the fear of God into everyone who heard of it. The younger men went
right to work and wrapped him up, then carried him out and buried him.
Not
more than three hours later, his wife, knowing nothing of what had
happened, came in. Peter said, “Tell me, were you given this price for
your field?”
“Yes,” she said, “that price.”
Peter
responded, “What’s going on here that you connived to conspire against
the Spirit of the Master? The men who buried your husband are at the
door, and you’re next.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than
she also fell down, dead. When the young men returned they found her
body. They carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
By
this time the whole church and, in fact, everyone who heard of these
things had a healthy respect for God. They knew God was not to be
trifled with.
Scripture
quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002
by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs,
CO. All rights reserved.
This story reminds me of a
television commercial that aired in the 1970s for Chiffon margarine. A
woman dressed in white and dubbed “Mother Nature” was given Chiffon
margarine for her porridge, and she argued that she was eating butter.
When the off-camera announcer insisted that she had been tricked – that
she was eating Chiffon margarine instead, lightning flashed, thunder
crashed, and she announced, “It’s not NICE to fool Mother Nature!”™
This
ad became iconic…probably anyone alive in the seventies remembers - and
thinks of it often in certain contexts. But as bad as it is to fool
“Mother Nature,” it is far more serious to play fast and loose with
God. I’m not saying that God will strike you dead if you lie to
Him…although He could! But I do believe that when we are deceitful and
dishonest – with ANYONE – we are treading on dangerous territory.
Remember
the story from the Gospels where Jesus says that when we do something
to – or for – the least among us, we have done this to/for Him. So when
we lie, cheat, steal, undercut or mistreat ANYONE, we have as good as
done this to Jesus – and our Heavenly Father.
I don’t believe that God causes bad things to happen to us…but I do think that sometimes He allows
us to go through a few things – particularly when we have sinned and
disobeyed Him. But let’s be honest…God is plenty capable of taking us
out of this world if/when He wants. There have been a few times that I
felt like maybe God called someone to Heaven to interrupt their sinful
behavior(s) on this earth and the impact these had on others. God will
not allow us to wreak havoc with His perfect plans, as the deaths of
Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 so clearly illustrate!
Search your
heart today and see where you are harboring even the tiniest smidgeon
of deception or ill will. Ask God to show you how you might be
operating in dishonesty, trickery, rumors, hatred, fear mongering, and
other sinful activities and behaviors. Humbly beg His forgiveness and
vow to do better. The “Mother Nature” commercial was funny…and the tag
line is STILL a good one. It’s not nice to fool “Mother Nature”™…but trying to deceive God is truly no laughing matter.
©2016 Debbie Robus
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