There’s really a lot in this chapter to dig into. First, God kills two of the new believers. Next, God heals people through the apostles. Finally, God challenges the religious establishment through a jail escape and hearing. I’ll be there are plenty of people out there that would use this passage to demonstrate the “inconsistencies” of the Bible. I think that they are just not looking at this passage closely enough.
Ananias and his wife, Sapphira (not the dragon; a real person), sold their property and agreed to keep some of the money for themselves. We don’t have any way to know how much of the money they kept, and the amount is certainly not important to the point. The important thing to God was that He asks for all of you. All of your time, all of your commitment, all of your energy. Jesus said that the greatest commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.” That pretty much covers everything, and Ananias didn’t have that level of commitment. It cost Ananias his family and his life. Does this mean that if you don’t give all of your money to the church that you will die? I don’t know.
God can certainly do as He pleases, and He chose to take the life of Ananias and Sapphira to make a point in the early church. I don’t know of any recent examples of this same thing, but I do know that when we don’t give everything to God, that we will suffer. You may not die physically, but spiritually you will not grow, and you will not enjoy the life that God intends.
On the other hand, the apostles healed people, were jailed, and preached the name of Jesus in this passage. Isn’t that inconsistent with a God that kills His own believers? Why would He kill His believers and heal those that don’t believe? Those questions miss the point. The question that should be asked is what was different about Ananias and the apostles? And the answer is that the apostles gave everything to God.
Because they had given everything to God, He was able to work through them to heal the sick and spread His word. Because they gave everything, He was willing to free them from jail and continue to use them to spread the word. As a matter of fact, the apostles were so committed that they counted it a blessing to be flogged for their belief. Wow!
I think between these two examples, I spend more time being Ananias than Peter, and I wonder how to make the shift. How about you?
About Me
- Michael
- I'm an IT professional who loves to work puzzles and solve problems. That's basically the summary for my job description: "problem solver." It's a good thing, too. You can imagine that being married and the father of four girls, I am a pretty busy guy with plenty of problems to solve. We live in Sachse, TX, a suburb of Dallas, but I am originally from Louisiana. My kids are pretty active with softball, school and growing up. Above all else, my kids really enjoy helping my wife, Leah, with her job at our church. Their favorite part is assisting in putting together big events for the area children.
1 comment:
I think that it makes God seem so inhumane, so heartless, and cold when you say He killed some of the believers. If they were believers, wasn't He just bringing them home? Wasn't He just saying, "OK, you have been outside in the front yard playing, but then you had to cross the street. I told you to stay in the front yard, but you didn't do it. Now it is time to come home and stop playing. Bed time for you." ?? God does give and take life...I am not arguing that point. Also, maybe He took them home because they were no longer doing anything to further the spread of His word, but the people who were being healed were going to spread His word now.
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