The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Acts 5:1-6,
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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“Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Then Peter said, ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.’ When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.”
Sin in the church! I am fully persuaded that Ananias and Sapphira were believers and had the unfortunate distinction of being those whose sin was the first recorded in the church after its birth on Pentecost. I don’t mean to imply the first sin committed by believers, but the first recorded in the church after its birth. From this, the early church learned a very bitter and difficult lesson: sin is not eradicated from the new community of believers. As we go through the accounts of the early church, we find believers continue to struggle with sin, and the pull of the sin nature even though they are redeemed, sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit for the hope we all have in the resurrection.
While this is cause for dismay, from another perspective, however, it provides an environment where the redeemed can glorify the Lord by choosing him over sin. We have an opportunity, which would not exist were it not for the presence of sin in our lives to make those choices that clearly manifest our passion for God as opposed to passion that the sin nature can so easily generate within us.
We are not merely robots but continue to have a free will that expresses just what we are. Against the backdrop of that sin nature that will continue with us until resurrection day, we reveal just who we are as John notes in 1 John 3:6, “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” John goes on to say, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” 1 John 3:9-10. We are capable of sinning but we no longer practice sin as a lifestyle.
Yes, just like Ananias and Sapphira, we can and do sin. But in God’s kindness and love for us he has given us his Holy Spirit and we find we are not the slaves to the sin nature we once were, but are now free to glorify him with the choices we make.
I am reminded of Romans 6:17-18, "Thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."
Sin in the church! I am fully persuaded that Ananias and Sapphira were believers and had the unfortunate distinction of being those whose sin was the first recorded in the church after its birth on Pentecost. I don’t mean to imply the first sin committed by believers, but the first recorded in the church after its birth. From this, the early church learned a very bitter and difficult lesson: sin is not eradicated from the new community of believers. As we go through the accounts of the early church, we find believers continue to struggle with sin, and the pull of the sin nature even though they are redeemed, sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit for the hope we all have in the resurrection.
While this is cause for dismay, from another perspective, however, it provides an environment where the redeemed can glorify the Lord by choosing him over sin. We have an opportunity, which would not exist were it not for the presence of sin in our lives to make those choices that clearly manifest our passion for God as opposed to passion that the sin nature can so easily generate within us.
We are not merely robots but continue to have a free will that expresses just what we are. Against the backdrop of that sin nature that will continue with us until resurrection day, we reveal just who we are as John notes in 1 John 3:6, “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” John goes on to say, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.” 1 John 3:9-10. We are capable of sinning but we no longer practice sin as a lifestyle.
Yes, just like Ananias and Sapphira, we can and do sin. But in God’s kindness and love for us he has given us his Holy Spirit and we find we are not the slaves to the sin nature we once were, but are now free to glorify him with the choices we make.
I am reminded of Romans 6:17-18, "Thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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