Devotion: Acts 5

There are already many words written about the story of Ananias and Sapphira to think i would be adding anything great to this would be silly. Instead let me tell you my favourite part of the text. In verse 11 we find these words:

"Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened."

You might say well Pastor Purple that is a little morbid and mean but hear me out. Ananias and Sapphira were not killed because they stole or because they killed they died because they chose to lie about something they did not have to do. How big a deceit is it to pretend to do something nice just so you can appear good to everyone else while really your just doing it for purely selfish reasons.

Are we guilty of doing what Ananias and Sapphira did? Doing something that everyone else is doing but not doing it properly because we have no conviction and only to get praise for our action. Are we looking for praise from every good deed we do and then when it does not materialise complaining or 'dropping dead'. The reason I like the last part of the text so much is that suddenly everyone had to behave themselves. Maybe there were others there who had selfish motivations and the death of Ananias and Sapphira served as a wake up call.

The more I ponder this story the more i realise that maybe just maybe I need to think about my motivation for doing something for someone else in need. Maybe its time I started doing nice things for others not because of how I will look to others but because it is the right thing to do. If i manage to do that then maybe my life won't be gripped by fear.