 Nicolas Poussin 1593/94 – 1665 Acts 5:1-11 We can't talk about Sapphira (beautiful) without including her husband, Ananias (God is gracious). They were members of the church at Jerusalem. With the knowledge of Sapphira, Ananias sold a piece of property, but only brought a portion of the proceeds of it's sale to Peter, claiming that was all he had received. When Peter confronted him for lying, Ananias immediately fell down dead. Later, Sapphira repeated the same lie, not knowing what had happened to her husband, and she also died. Conclusion: We will have to pay a price for being dishonest and deceitful. Ananias and Sapphira brought their death upon themselves for agreeing to give ALL....but only giving a part. I know that if we live dishonest lives today, we can die spiritually. We are to be honest and trustworthy in all our business dealings....we shouldn't think that we can hide the "under the table" schemes, or not living up to promises made....and we should never portray ourselves to be something that we're not!!! 'Till next week, Sweet Reader!!! In His Most Precious Love....and with mine!!! |
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Women of the Bible - Sapphira
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You are so right. In our church we pay a voluntary 10% tithing of all our increase to help the poor and to build and maintain our buildings and support missionaries. (No one gets paid for their ministry). The Lord has blessed our family in so many ways because we faithfully pay our tithing and Fast Offerings!
ReplyDeleteThis husband and wife certainly denied themselves blessings in so many ways.
Years ago, I always thought how could Ananias and Sapphira think they could get away with their dishonesty, but now I realize they were just being more human. They feel into the trap of believing they could fool Peter, a mere man and I suppose if Peter had been any other man then they would have gotten away with it. However Peter being a man of God was lead by the Master to know the truth for we can't hide from God. He knows everything - thought & deed of every man. Thanks for sharing this today.
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