When he heard these words, Ananias dropped dead, and a great fear came on all who heard.     Acts 5:5 HCSB

Back in Acts 4:37, a man named Barnabas sold some property and gave all the proceeds to the apostles. Ananias and his wife Sapphira also sold a piece of property and apparently lied and said they were giving all the proceeds to the church but held a portion of it back for themselves.

There is no sin in them keeping a portion of the proceeds for themselves. The problem comes in with them lying and in church of all places. They lied to God and the church saying they were donating all they got for this piece of property. In reality, they only donated a portion of the proceeds.

Ananias and Sapphira were hypocrites. They said they were donating all the money to impress the fellow church members. Ananias went to church and laid this portion of money at the apostles’ feet. Peter then questioned him. Peter told him the land was his and the proceeds were at his disposal. In verse 4 Peter tells Ananias, “You have not lied to men, but to God.”

Ananias dropped dead right there in the church. Three hours later his wife came in. She and Ananias had both conspired to pledge all, but only give a portion. She too lied and also dropped dead.

It’s easy for us to read something like this and think of how terrible it was for them to lie to God, but do we do the same thing? When we promise to do our best for Him and fail to do it, aren’t we lying to Him? They promised to give all their proceeds and only gave part. When we promise to love Him with all our heart, but keep one foot in the world and can’t let go of our worldly behaviors, aren’t we holding back? Aren’t we lying to God?

There are several lessons to be learned from Ananias and Sapphira. First, we need to understand that their sin was not in holding some of the proceeds back. We are told to tithe or give a portion of what we are blessed with to God. The problem was they were trying to impress their fellow church members by saying they were giving all of it, but this was a lie. The sin was in the lying. God takes sin very seriously.

The sin was also in their hypocrisy. They claimed to love the Lord with all their heart, but they didn’t love Him enough not to lie to Him.

If you are sinning and thinking the Lord will just let you get away with it, you are lying to yourself. If you are faking your Christianity, God knows this. If you are trying to impress people more than God, God will not tolerate this.

No good comes from us lying to anyone. Lying is an abomination to the Lord. Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Lord in church, we can see that God dealt with them swiftly.

Do a self-check. Are you lying to God? Are you trying harder to impress others than to impress Him? Please know God takes this matter very seriously. You should too.

Have a great day!