Today's devotional was about Annanias and Saphira. As might already know, they had some land and sold it. They gave most of the money to the church and kept a small amount for themselves.
Now you are thinking, is it wrong to keep a little back? Does God want me to sell everything and give everything to the church? Well, if He has led you to do that, then yes; but if He hasn't, then, no.
But that is really not the issue. Here is what was wrong. When they gave the money to the church they led everyone to believe that they had given ALL the proceeds of the sale to the church. I guess they wanted to "appear" to be very generous and "holy." How many times do we want people to think of us a certain way, so we lead them to believe part of the truth and leave out the other part we don't want them to know about. Oops-a-daisy! Tiny little mislead or lie, right?
Well, the problem is, God doesn't like hidden agendas and partial truths...those are also known as "sins." God is holy. That means He does not like sin. Fortunately, He also sent His Son, so our sins can be forgiven. That is the Good News!
Here is the bad news. Annanias and Saphira lied to Peter's face about having kept back a little of the money. The problem is not that they should not have kept some of the money; the problem is that they lied about it! Oops-a-daisy!
Was it a little lie? Apparently, to God, a lie is a lie...no more, no less. So when we cover our little, tiny, lies with phrases like "oops-a-daisy" or "white lie" or "that didn't hurt anyone," we are sinning just as if we had committed murder.
God, please help me to see everything through your eyes. Please help me to tell the truth, the whole truth, in a God honoring way. Amen.
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