This chapter of Acts highlights to me a key issue in people today. Although it may not be as brazen as physically lying in front of the alter, many of us has allowed our hearts to be taken over by satan in the sense that our mission has deviated from edifying Gods work to acquiring self and materialistic things. This is what happened to Ananias and his wife. The church is described as being a selfless one which sought to share everything they owned with each-other... The bible records in Acts chapter 4 that 'there was no poverty among them'. Ananias however, went against this goal and thought instead about his own self gain rather than about the church and the progress of the gospel.
The funny thing in all this, is that the offering of money and selling of land from individuals of the church in Acts was completely voluntary! Therefore, we must wonder why Ananias felt the need to try and deceive the church instead of just keeping his belongings to himself! The fact is that many of us do this today! Although our minds and our hearts have left God and is filled with material wants and ambitions, we still want to be seen as doing Gods will... eye service... so they wont say that were not contributing... so that that brother or sister can see me... so that the pastor wont say... yes, so many of us are lying to God and deceiving ourselves with the false offerings we present to God! That's why Peter said to Ananias in verse 4, "you are not lying to man but to God." Now, it may rarely be in the form of money but as we offer praises, and as we do those things in the church that we say we do for God, are we only giving half of what we have? Are we doing it whole heartedly or just doing it for eye service to try and deceive God?
Now, God is merciful, but the repercussions are still deadly when we fail to come clean to ourselves and really commit to Gods work fully! Because God sees our deception and He cannot be fooled, and although He may not strike people down physically as He did to Ananias and his wife in Acts 5, there are some things in your life that may be struck down as a result of trying to deceive God... The life that was given to you when you were fist born again, the Holy Spirit! At this stage one is as good as dead... the sad thing is that people fail to notice this as they often believe in themselves that they are still with God as they struggle using human rationalization logistics to do the things of God... human rationalization and logistics is what prompted Ananias and his wife to save some money from the land they sold to themselves, and its what prompts most "Christians" today to pay their tithes every other month or to be partial in their service... in the name of just being human... many Christians are missing it!
