A divided heart
by Chelsea Pietsch
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‘You have not lied just to human beings but to God’ (Acts 5:4).
When Christ calls us to follow him, the call is absolute. Drop everything, come. Jesus shakes up our world.
Understandably, this can cause us some uncertainty or even anxiety. We want to follow Jesus, but we’re also scared about what it will mean for us. We’re nervous about letting go of our place in the world. These fears can lead to hypocrisy. We want to appear to our friends in the church to be trusting Christ, but sometimes the things we do in secret suggest otherwise.
In today’s passage, we meet a couple, Ananias and Saphira, who struggle with this very thing. They are a wealthy couple who sell a piece of property, and they pretend to bring all of the proceeds to the apostles to distribute according to need, as was the custom in the early church (see Acts 4:32–37 for further context). But in reality, they keep some of the money for themselves.
When Peter asks them directly whether the amount they handed over was the full amount, they lie. He sees their lie and calls it out. But God sees their lie, too, and they fall dead. Their death is a result of their hypocrisy.
Have you ever told a lie to preserve an image of yourself as an upright Christian? What are some things you are reluctant to relinquish for fear of losing your place in the world?
Dear Lord, forgive us when we have lied to ourselves, to others, and you. Protect us from hypocrisy, and let your gospel bear fruit in us. Amen.
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