Sinning in Secret

Do you do things in secret thinking that nobody knows? You hide the guilt and shame by actively participating in you church or religious organization, but deep down you just feel rotten? Thinking that nobody will find out is -at it's very best- a completely unfounded hope. Thinking you can hide it from God, your Creator, is simply ludicrous. But yet many men repeatedly conspire to hide their shortcoming or their "guilty pleasures" from the world, thinking that nobody will ever know.

Apparently, the selling of land and donating to the church was a common practice as a sort of "fund-raiser" in the early New Testament church (Acts 4:34-35). Ananias in Acts 5:1-2 conspired with his wife to sell a piece of land and say that they were giving all the money they made to the church, but keep some of the money for themselves. But, according to Acts 5:3-4, Peter immediately knew, and confronted Ananias about his lie. Then, upon hearing Peter's truthful accusation, Ananias fell down dead (Acts 5:5-6).

It's important to note that at this point in the story, already a good number of people have found out about the treachery. Most importantly, it's important to note that God already knew, and Ananias was severely punished. Acts 5:7-10 continues the story, with Sapphira (Ananias' wife) coming into the church three hours later, not yet knowing her husband was dead. She also lies, and she also falls down dead.

The story unfolds from the very beginning as a man, the spiritual leader of his home, incites his family to lie. From that one secret sin they thought that nobody would ever know, both he and his wife died. It's important to remember that there are consequences when we sin, even when they aren't immediately apparent. The last half of Numbers 32:23 is often repeated, but has been proven true time and again, "You may be sure that your sin will find you out."

Life's Not Just a Bed of Roses

Did you get saved expecting it to make life easier? Did you get saved expecting God to make you rich or famous? Do you preach, teach, and believe the Word of Faith doctrine? 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 would tend to disagree with your idea of what it means to be saved. Certainly, God does richly bless His children, but it is not always so.

God always meets the needs of His children though. Consider the children of Israel in Exodus 16:3, out in the desert, hungry; then in Exodus 16:11-15 God sent bread in the morning with the dew for them to eat. And no, it wasn't just some bland bread, according to Exodus 16:31 it was like wafers made with honey. Ultimately though, God's people got tired of the provision of God and longed for the enslavement of Egypt again in Numbers 11:1-6. Their greed brought the wrath of God on them though, and many died of a plague in Numbers 11:33-34.

Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Sometimes good things happen to bad people. Matthew 5:45 tells us that God causes the sun to rise on everyone, and rain to fall on everyone. So then, ultimately, did you become a Christian because you love Jesus because He died on a cross as a sacrifice for the sins you had committed and because God in His supreme love reached down His hand of grace to you, or did you become a Christian because you wanted earthly treasures? Wanting things you don't need or deserve is greed. Is your entire faith is based on greed? Matthew 6:19-21 says to store up treasure in Heaven, nothing on this earth is going to last.

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 now gives us the greatest thing we have. For as much hardship, as much pain, and us much suffering as we go through, we have an equal amount of comfort in Christ. We can rejoice that we have hope in Jesus that through our suffering for Him we are drawn closer to Him, and that one day we will see Him face to face.