Peter said to him: "Tell me, with the price of land so that you sell?" The woman replied: "Yes so." (Acts 5: 8)
Integrity - What can we think about Ananias and Sapphira? What drives them to do this? Why do they do that? Let me conclude with one word: REPUTATION. Ananias and Sapphira want to still look "good" in the eyes of the apostles and the church to sell the land and give the proceeds. The main issue is not in their hold or not, but the main issue is, they do not say that the actual amount of the overall results of the sale of land. It felt as if they did not take any advantage of the sale, it was not! They resist most dishonest and report to Peter. They think and driven by reputation, they want to impress that they also have a significant role in the movement of love of the early church, they want to be perceived well, want to be seen pious, but actually they do not want to lose. And God knows that! That they are not honest.
It is a matter of INTEGRITY. Something rarely encountered in our time, even among religious leaders is becoming a rare thing for us to find. Integrity understood as "completeness, wholeness, unified, and the entirety," it means INTEGRITY. Wholeness in question is the integrity of all aspects of life, especially between words and deeds. Integrity is not the same as self-image (image). Image is the perception of ourselves, while integrity is who we are.
Do not do anything because of the pursuit of reputation, let alone willing to do anything, including sin for the sake of reputation, but to do everything with the attitude of fearing God. God knows everything we think and do, nothing is hidden before Him, and everything we do must be his reward. Ananias and Sapphira became a terrible example due to loss of integrity. Things like this may not happen in our time, but there are other consequences that are not less terrible would happen in our life when we lose integrity. Among other things: we do not find the "fruit" in our ministry, we lose the trust of the people close to us, we lose spiritual blessings in life and ministry.
Moment of Inspiration.
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