Servants and Selfishness

Read Acts 4: 32-5:11.

Some Bible stories are cheerful and pleasant. This is not one of them. The story of Ananias and Sapphira is a sobering account of the early church. We might read it and see it as a lesson on the dangers of greed and deceitfulness, and certainly, that would be correct. Ananias and Sapphira were undoubtedly greedy, and they were equally deceitful. They chose to sell their property, they chose to give money, and they chose to lie about it. Nothing in that is hard to understand or unfamiliar. The fact that they were so immediately and dramatically called out on their lie and instantaneously judged for it is what makes this passage particularly memorable. They say that if you can’t be a good example, you may instead serve as a horrible warning, and this couple did indeed do that. Continue reading Servants and Selfishness