August 13: Acts 4:32-5:11
Key Verse: Acts 5:2
with his wife’s knowledge, he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Devotion:
There are times when we do not want to hear the truth and times when we gloss over things people have done wrong because we just don't want to get involved.
This passage tells of a time when all the people in this area gathered together and they wanted to live as one big family, sharing all they had with all around them so nobody would go shorter of anything than anyone else.
This meant that when things were short, everyone balanced out the goods, and when things were plentiful, everyone shared in the plentiful goods. But, there were some amongst them who did not want to share everything.
Ananias and his wife sold their parcel of land and only brought forward part of the money because they wanted to keep it. This may seem fine to us, but they were all living under an agreement to share everything.
Things did not go as planned when they were found out.
Points to ponder:
How often do you say one thing and do another?
God wants us all to be honest, open and generous!