Acts 4:32–5:11
Be still: Lord help me cut out the distractions of the world to encounter to you in your Word. Amen
Read: Acts 4:32–5:11
Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God. (ch5:4b)
Encounter: When I was eighteen, God put a desire in my heart to preach — the problem was that there was also a lot of pride in my heart (if I’m honest, there still is).
At that time, I paid the bills by working as the facilities assistant at my church, a fancy way of saying 'cleaner.' Every morning from 6–8 a.m. I cleaned the building. One day I found myself thinking how much humbler I was than everyone else because I was doing this lowly, thankless task.
In that moment I felt the conviction of God: humility is an attitude, not an action. I might have been doing a humble task, but I was doing it pridefully. The desire to preach was holy, but deeper was a hidden pride, and left undealt with it would hinder my preaching, because the hidden always sabotages the holy.
That conviction was God’s kindness, and those early-morning cleaning shifts became a crucible where he slowly began to deal with my heart.
God cares not only about what we do, but why and how we do it. He looks beyond our outward actions and searches the hidden motives of our hearts, and we see that truth vividly in today’s reading.
Joseph sells a field and gives the proceeds to the church, a holy act flowing from a transformed heart. Ananias and Sapphira also sell a field and bring the proceeds while secretly keeping back part of the money. They wanted the appearance of generosity without the reality of surrender. Though their public act looked holy, the hidden motive sabotaged it, and instead of favour, they faced judgment.
This unsettling passage is an act of God’s kindness, inviting us to ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and refine us before the hidden things sabotage the holy things God desires to do through us.
Apply: Invite the Spirit to search your heart, to reveal and refine any hidden motives.
Devote: Holy Spirit, search my heart and reveal anything hidden that could hinder your work through me. Refine my motives and help me live, surrendered.