But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things. Acts, Chapter 5, verses 1-11.
I’m very fortunate God that has this story of Ananias and his wife pop in my mind from time to time, especially at times when I’m trying to find an angle to beat the system. An example would be my planning to have my college daughter come and eat at the breakfast buffet in my hotel when I come to her town to visit. Since I’ve realized how I was calculating this in my heart, I now go to someone at the hotel and offer to pay for my daughter to join us for breakfast. It’s not that anyone minded or would have missed the food. What matters is that I contrived this plan in order to save a few bucks on my daughter’s breakfast and God knows what’s in my heart. He knows when I’m making up lame excuses for why I’m not going to church on a particular occasion or why the sales person deserved my less than patient response to the store’s policy, etc.
It would be nice if God didn’t need to remind me so often. That’s not the case. Satan works in very subtle ways and finds ways to sneak into our lives through our planning and scheming and our making excuses for our choices. I’m so thankful that God takes the time to remind me. I don’t ever want to let these subtle things work into my life and slowly lead me astray as a Lame Excuses Christian. I need to maintain a focus on God and the reminders He puts in my mind (some people call it a conscience), which help to refocus me.
Since this is an example of the positive influence God has made on my walk with Christ, this may not reflect the whole meaning of the Bible verses.
