Reading this I was challenged by two things in Acts Chapter
5.
First with Ananias and Sapphira, a couple who, unlike
Barnabas we learnt about in Chapter 4, wanted to hold something back when they
gave and were prepared to lie through their teeth about it – it cost them their
lives! I guess it’s not the amount they gave (or didn’t give) but their
attitude towards it. Were they giving freely and with love? A real contrast to
the giving we saw in the later part of Chapter 4 which was of great
encouragement to the early church.
Do we hold back when giving to God and then pretend that we
have given all that we should have? This isn’t necessarily materially but could
be in our service or in our attitude to God or in our hearts?
The second challenge I had was this; later in Acts 5 we read
of the apostles being persecuted. Yet when the Apostles appear before the
authorities, they state – “We must obey God rather than men!” (v29), before
going onto state their belief in the gospel of Jesus. After being flogged for
their beliefs (v40) they rejoiced that they “had been counted worthy of
suffering disgrace for the Name [of Jesus]”. Wow.
In an environment that seems increasingly hostile to the
Christian message, could we respond in our hearts the same way the early
Apostles responded?
(member of a homegroup)