The Cost of Integrity - Day 164 Month 6-13 Week 24-3
Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year)
Judges 1, Psalm 130, Jeremiah 42, Acts 5:1-16
The Cost of Integrity
The promises and arrangements we make with God are serious. I can be a dreamer. I dream of what I would do if I was given a lot of money. If I had a lot of money, I would only keep what I need to live and give the rest to doing my part to solving poverty. That’s my dream. Then I revise the dream and say to myself, If I received a lot of money, I’d still just take enough to live but I’d get that new car I need and finish the renos on my house and give my son enough money to buy a house and I’d give the rest to solving poverty. Now, that’s my dream. Then I revise the dream again and say I’d actually invest the money that’s left and the proceeds from the investment will be used to solve poverty because I will have been able to solve poverty on an ongoing basis. I’ve actually said to God that if He provided me with a sum of funds I would use it for His work. The problem is that I’m human. We have good intentions before the fact but when we are in that place, we seldom follow through.
I’m sure Ananias and Sapphira had good intentions when they sold their property. They originally wanted to give it all to God’s work as the church was starting. They had witnessed Joseph (the Cyprian Levite we read about yesterday) sell some land and bring the funds to the apostles and I’m sure that people thought highly of Joseph. “Maybe the people will think highly of us as well,” they thought (my interpretation). So they sold the property and realized how much money it was. They figured, no one will notice if we keep some back will they? Well let’s get our story straight. We’ll tell them we sold the property and these funds are the proceeds. The people will still treat us with high regard and we will still live comfortably. So that is what they did.
So what is the sin here? They didn’t lie to the apostles, they lied to God. God knew the truth. What is sad in this story is the fact that they would not have died if they had been honest. The story may have gone like this. They might have said to each other. We’ve sold the property and as much as I’d like to give it all to the apostles to use, we could really use some of the proceeds. Let’s keep what we want and give the rest. We’ll tell Peter we sold some property and received a large sum but we’ve decided to donate this portion to the cause. Maybe the accolades would not have been as great as Joseph’s but it would have been honest. Acts 5:4 explains. “While it (the property) remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold was it not under your control? Why is it that you conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”
Sylvia and I live fairly close to where the “West Dalhousie/Long Lake Wildfire took place last summer. It was a very concerning summer in our area of Nova Scotia. While the wildfire was continuing, Sylvia provided some of her art as part of an art auction with a typical percentage of proceeds going to the local not-for-profit gallery she volunteers at. The gallery would keep their portion and the artist (Sylvia in this case) would keep the remainder. Due to the wildfire, Sylvia decided to donate her portion to the firefighters to at least contribute to the cause of fighting this wildfire and she put a sign in front of her art to let people know where the proceeds would go. Some of the art did sell so there were some funds to donate. Now Nova Scotia has a weekly 50/50 draw to fund firefighting in the province. We discussed putting the proceeds in the 50/50 draw. Fifty percent would immediately be used in firefighting but if she won, she’d have maybe $300,000 to donate. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely the other 50% would be won by her and she would have only given 50% of the sale’s proceeds to fight the fires. Very quickly following our discussion, she sensed the Holy Spirit's conviction and simply donated all the funds to our local fire department. Our agreement really was not with those who purchased the painting or the firefighters, but it was with God.
We all have a sinful human nature. As Jesus followers, Syl and I have the Holy Spirit living in us. The Holy Spirit convicts us when we are on the wrong path or are doing something that is contrary to what we have promised. His gentle correction keeps us on the straight path. For that I am thankful.
Have a great day!
Steve
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