Luke has shown us the amazing phenomenon of the early church; how powerful it was and how blessed its members were. It should not be surprising now that something happens to potentially undermine what God was doing. The story of Ananias and Sapphira contains the first mention of Satan in the book of Acts. Satan wants to destroy what God is doing because what God is doing is intended to destroy the works of Satan. Ananias and Sapphira did not have to give all their money to the church to be a part of it, Peter makes that very clear. It was, however, necessary for them to be truthful. They wanted the credit for giving everything. They probably thought that would elevate their status in this obviously blessed community. Whatever their issues were, they had to be honest about them because otherwise their dishonesty would give Satan a foothold in some way. Anyone can be a part of Jesus’ Kingdom, but you have to go through ‘quarantine’. You have to open your baggage and let God dig out the bad stuff. So many Christians get stuck in the quarantine zone, like the quarantine zones in international airports. They are so close to home; it’s just on the other side of quarantine. But because they don’t want to open their baggage to God, they circle about in a kind of nowhere zone that is dull, lifeless, and separated from the joy of God. It’s not hard to enter the Kingdom. You can come with all manner of issues, you just need to be open about those issues and give them to God.
Let God bring to light the things that he is concerned about in you.
Read Acts 5:1-10
