Theological Commentary: Click Here
Today we
have two interesting contrasting stories.
We begin with the interesting story of Ananias and Sapphira. Here is a couple who sell some land and give
some of the money to the Lord. There’s
nothing wrong with this. Nowhere does
God have the expectation that we give everything. The problem is that they lie about it. They lie to make it seem like they are giving
everything. That’s what God has an issue
wish. They lie in order to make their
love for God seem better than it really is.
The punishment is that they die.
Their life ends because of the lie.
In an
interesting twist, we hear about a story from the disciples. They are healing and teaching and
preaching. They are arrested, but God
frees them. They go back to teaching and
preaching as soon as God frees them.
They are arrested once more. Here’s
where the twist comes into play. Peter
steps up and tells the truth. In his
boldness, God spares the lives of the disciples. Gamaliel steps up and speaks wisdom from God.
Because of their willing ness to tell
the truth, Peter and John find themselves able to continue living.
I think that
this is a neat part of the story. When
we try to save our life through our own inventive creativity, we end up
spending what life we have left. When we
are willing to spend our life by standing upon God’s truth, we find that He has
the ability to deliver us from death.
Don’t get me
wrong. It won’t be easy to stand upon
the truth. Peter and John may have saved
their life, but notice that they are still beaten before they are
released. They are nearly killed for
their desire to stand upon the truth.
They get a good scare and the world does inflict its price upon
them. But their life is spared because
they have put their faith in the Lord.
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