What was the sin of Ananias and Sapphira? What did they do wrong that was so great that the apostle Peter rebuked them and God took their lives from them on the spot? Was it that they sold a possession and kept back part of the price for themselves instead of giving it all to the Lord for the care of their fellow believers in Jerusalem?

Notice Peter's answer to Ananias (5:3-4): “Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.”

What was Ananias' sin? It was not that he kept back part of the price of the property he sold. He would not have had to sell it at all. And once he sold it, what portion of the proceeds he gave to the Lord (if any) was in his discretion. His sin was that he pretended to give it all when he only gave part. He lied not only to Peter, the apostles and the church, but to the Holy Spirit of God. And when Peter asked Sapphira of the price of the land they sold, her answer revealed that she too was a participant in the lie of Ananias.

Ananias and Sapphira were judged of the Lord because of their hypocrisy. They pretended to be what they were not, and they pretended to do what they did not. They tried to appear wholly devoted unto the Lord and to selflessly love their fellow believers in the church when it just wasn't true. And the judgment was death - they both literally dropped dead on the spot before Peter and the apostles.

It may be tempting for us to think of hypocrites we know deserving of similar judgment, but what if God dealt with all hypocrisy in the churches as He did with Ananias and Sapphira? Who has not covered up sin and pretended to be what he or she is not? Who would be left standing before the Lord today if God were to so judge us? If I may dare to say it, the cemeteries would lack space.

As we read the sad story of Ananias and Sapphira, we see the judgment we deserve of the Lord God every time we lie to our fellow believers and the Holy Ghost and pretend to be what we are not. But the very fact that we are still standing here and living and breathing is evidence of the Lord's mercy.

As we read of the Lord in Psalm 103:10-12: “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”

Because Jesus fulfilled all righteousness for us and then suffered and died upon the cross for the sins of the whole world, God forgives our sins and shows to us mercy. He calls us to life with Him by faith.

O dearest Jesus, forgive us for pretending to be what we are not. Instead move us to repent of our evil and selfish ways and look to You and Your shed blood for mercy and forgiveness and life. Amen.

[Devotion by Randy Moll. Scripture quotations from the King James Version of the Bible.]

For The Record, Pages 4 on 06/23/2010