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Honest to God – Acts 5
Honest to God – Acts 5
I have no idea where such an expression first developed, or why it developed. Yet I know that for most people the concept is a difficult one to develop. We all liked to be liked. We all like to be appreciated. Much of this is based upon our reputation. The problem is that reputation is NOT character. In fact, our character and our reputation can be radically different. So it was with Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5.
What laid at the foundation of their thinking and act? I appears to me that it was the desire for reputation, to be seen as someone very generous, kind, and giving. Satan used their desire to fill their heart with an evil plan: lie to God, the Holy Spirit, to the Apostles, and to the brethren – all in one step!
In normal circumstances perhaps they would have gotten away with this! But here it was not a normal circumstance. One can never get away with lying to God. We can lie to people, and even to self. But God knows our very heart and intent.
We saw in chapter 4, the leaders of Israel recognized that a great miracle had been done in the name of Jesus and thus validated the claims concerning Him, especially that He was the Christ, the Son of God. YET they could not be honest and just admit this.
Paul later exhorts disciples to ‘examine yourself’: “5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” ( 2 Corinthians 13:5). WHY are you being religious? WHY are you serving the Lord? Be honest with yourself!
Hugh DeLong
