Acts 5:1-16

Ananias and Sapphira 1 But there was a certain man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. 2 He brought part of the money to the apostles, claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest. 3 Then Peter said, "Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. 4 The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!"
5 As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. 6 Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and buried him. 7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, "Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?" "Yes," she replied, "that was the price." 9 And Peter said, "How could the two of you even think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out, too." 10 Instantly, she fell to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear gripped the entire church and everyone else who heard what had happened.The Apostles Heal Many 12 The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers were meeting regularly at the Temple in the area known as Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 But no one else dared to join them, even though all the people had high regard for them. 14 Yet more and more people believed and were brought to the Lord—crowds of both men and women. 15 As a result of the apostles’ work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats so that Peter’s shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. 16 Crowds came from the villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those possessed by evil[a] spirits, and they were all healed.

Devotional (by Mikey Skoglund):
This passage in Acts about Ananias and his wife really challenges me in my walk with God. So as we read, Ananias sells his property and gives some of the money to God’s kingdom. Ok, well no harm done there right? The problem is that he tells the apostles that he’s giving them all of the money that he sold the property for, but in reality, he and his wife kept a portion of it for themselves. So why would they do this? As the apostle Peter said "The property was yours to sell or not to sell, and the money was yours to give away", meaning it didn’t really matter one way or the other to Peter and the apostles if Ananias and his wife gave them all of the money or just part of it, the problem came when they lied about it. They tried to cheat God.
How many times can we do that in our lives? We try to get people to believe that we’re holy or righteous, when really the real question is, are we right before God? You see, it really doesn’t matter how people in this world view us, what really matters is if we’re being honest and open before God. Are we really being true to our word and putting our hearts into our work? God doesn’t want us to just have the appearance of holiness, He doesn’t deal with illusions. His desire is to take our unholy lives and form them into something holy, but we have to give up trying to just act the part and let God form us into the men and women He wants us to be.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for today. Thank you for another day of Your goodness and holiness in my life. God I just surrender to You right now all of the things that I try and control. I give You the things in my life that I do to try and please people rather than trying to please You. Help me to have a pure heart and clean hands. Thank You for Your love in my life. Amen.