18th.: Ananias and Sapphira
How many of us think that we can fool God.
The book of Nahum cautions us against that,
"What do ye imagine against the Lord?
He will make an utter end.
Affliction shall not rise up the second time." (Nahum 1:9).
If we think that we can fool God, we are fooling only ourselves.
The book of Acts gives an example.
Acts 5 introduces us to a Christian couple named Ananias and Sapphira.
One day, they “sold a possession and kept back part of the price …
and brought a certain part, and laid it as the apostle’s feet.” (Acts 5:1b-2).
In reality, Ananias and Sapphire gave only part of the sale price to the church,
but claimed that it was the whole sale price. (Acts 5:8)
If they had given only a part of the price, and said that it was only a part of the sale price,
then they would not have been guilty of lying. But the God of truth does not take kindly lying.
So Peter asked Ananias why he allowed Satan to fill his heart to lie to the Holy Ghost.
Ananias dropped dead right right there. (see Acts 5:3-5).
A few hours later, Sapphira came to the church.
God gave her the chance to come clean. But she repeated Ananias’ lie. She too died on the spot (Acts 5:7-10).
This same Peter warns us, “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil,
as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1st Pet. 5:8).
We must be careful not to allow Satan to convince us that we can deceive God.
This writer has observed that liars seem to lie most to themselves.
Now the lie that they tell others is different from the lie that they tell themselves.
The lie they tell themselves is that their lies are successful.
In the short term, their lies may be successful.
But in the long time, it is not, because the God of Truth knows otherwise,
as Sapphira and Ananias found out the hard way.
“Now the Spirit speaks expressly that in the later times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits, and to doctrines of demons.” (1st Tim. 4:1)