Act 5 - A Blog in 28 Acts

What's Your Heart Condition?  Read all of Acts 5.

Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.  Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?  Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."  When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.  Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.  About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.  Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?"  "Yes," she said, "that is the price."  Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also." At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.  Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.  Acts 5:1-11

To me this story is alarming and frightening.  God killed Ananias and Sapphira for their deceit and betrayal towards Him and the budding Church.  I actually have read this story numerous times now and the way the events unfolded still shock me.  Why would God take their lives for a sin as simple as lying?  Why would Ananias and Sapphira keep some money for themselves and then lie about it?  It was their money and they were free to give what they wanted.  It seems to me that the problem was not their greedy actions, but their hearts. 

This passage reminds me that God sees into our hearts and knows the purpose, intent and desire of each of them.  As scripture records in 1 Samuel 16:7, "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."   God knows every desire of our hearts, good or bad.  He knows when we are being honest with Him and when we'€™re not.  Some of us are great at hiding.  We can hide our secret sins and pain from others.  Our emotions and outward expressions can often mask our true selves to people and give people the impression that everything is fine and dandy.  However, we can'€™t fool God.  We can'€™t try to pull a fast one on Him or convince Him that everything is fine if it isn't. We desperately need to purify our hearts continually by communing with God in prayer, confessing sin and turning toward Him in repentance.  We need to check our attitudes and our lifestyle against God'€™s Word and make sure we are living our lives in a way that honors God.

What is the condition of your heart?  What "€œsecret"€ things do you have in there that people don'€™t see?  How do we overcome a fear of being honest and real with God?

Take time this week to search your heart and ask God to reveal areas that might need some healing and repentance.

Chip

This 28 part blog will post each Tuesday through Friday from April 1 through May 16.  We'll post on one chapter of Acts each day.  Be sure to join us in reading this entire book.  We'll learn about Jesus, about his disciples, and about how we can become more fully devoted followers of Christ.

Comments

[Sara]

It is both alarming and frightening. I know that I am often caught trying to hide something about who I really am and what is really important to me from God.

Nothing reveals the condition of our hearts like how we use our money and our stuff. I continue to pray that my heart would be alive not because of what I have - but because of who has me!