Do you know the story of Ananias en Sapphira described in 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.

 ¹⁷There is such a thing as a fatal sin, and I’m not urging you to pray about that. Everything we do wrong is sin, but not all sin is fatal.

Maybe we should do some straight talking. It’s simple. Things that go against God’s will are wrong. It’s a sin. And yes, we shouldn’t be too hard on Ananias and Sapphira either, because we can easily fit into their shoes.

On the one hand, they did the right thing by selling their house to provide for Peter and the ministry, but when they got the money, it was probably just too much for them. Wow, they’ve worked hard for that money.

And they made a mistake, not by holding back the money, but by not being honest with the donation.

The devil is cunning; while we’re doing good, he trips us up. We must be vigilant about that. We must anticipate this and prepare ourselves to avoid falling into that trap. Let’s strive with all our might to do what is right.

Scripture
1 John 5:14-21

Reflection
Where is something trying to prevent you from doing the right thing?
Who is trying to trick you?
What should you do to get rid of the wrong things in your life?

Prayer
Father, I’m sorry for the sin in my life. Help me eliminate any wrongdoing from my actions, so I only do what is right. Amen.