Top Priority

"There was also a man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles, but he claimed it was the full amount. His wife had agreed to this deception.

Then Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren't lying to us but to God."

As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young men wrapped him in a sheet and took him out and buried him.

About 3 hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, "Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?"

"Yes," she replied, "that was the price."

And Peter said, "How could the two of you even think of doing a thing like this - conspiring together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Just outside that door are the young men who buried your husband, and they will carry you out too."

Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear gripped the entire church and all others who heard what had happened."

Acts 5:1-11 (NLT)

First of all, let's look at when this was and put it into context, this is the beginning of the new church, the times when followers gave up everything and shared everything to live as one, "all the believers were of one heart and mind" (Acts 4:32). This was an incredible time of growth and miracles within the church, Jesus had gone from this world but His influence was still clearly visible within the lives of His followers.

Now we come to Ananias and his wife Sapphira, they had joined the new church, they obviously saw that this community formed by the apostles was special, different, blessed and they wanted in on it. They had something that they could give to this community that could help, the money from the field, but instead of giving it all for the Glory of God, they decided to only give part but claim it was all. As Peter says, the field, and the money that came from it, was entirely theirs, do to with as they wished. However, Ananias and his wife decided instead to keep some back for themselves all the while claiming to have given up everything. They wanted to be part of this community but not have to risk everything in order to do that, if it fell apart they would still have some money, they would not be beggars.

How many times do we catch ourselves doing that? Claiming to be wholehearted lovers of God but then put other things higher than Him in our list of priorities? "Actions speak louder than words" is a bit of a cliché but it is so true. It is easy for me to claim that I love God more than anything, that He is my top priority. And yet sometimes nothing is harder for me than to shut down Facebook, put my phone on the other side of the room, shut out whatever else I need to and just be with my Daddygod. It can take some effort but it is so worthwhile and is something I am really trying to get to grips with, I say He is my top priority but I want that to be obvious from how I live my life and how I spend my time and my resources.

We need to be honest with God and with ourselves, as Peter said to Ananias, he wasn't lying to the rest of the community, he was lying to God. Other people's opinion is not important, what is important is our relationship with our God. The field belonged to Ananias, the money got from selling it belonged to Ananias, he could do with it what he wished, the only thing he could not do was lie about it. Peter makes it quite clear that had Ananias only given part of the money and been honest about it that would have been okay, it was the deception and the hypocrisy that was unacceptable and caused God's response.

Here is a prayer that I have been praying recently:

Daddygod, thank you for being such an incredible and loving God, help me to learn how to live for You each and everyday, putting You first in all things, Amen.


I hope this helps you on the way to living out in actions what you claim to believe in with your words :)