Acts 5

(Sorry, can't keep coming up with catchy titles for posts about random thoughts as I re-read Scripture...)

Continuing in Acts, chapter 5 tonight. A few thoughts:

• In the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), their sin was not that they did not give all they received from selling their land, but rather that they lied about the amount, I guess to appear more generous and/or holy. But Peter pointed out that they did not lie to men but to God. In our lives, people we try to deceive may not always catch on as quickly as Peter did here, but we need to remember that we can never fool God. He knows our true heart and motives.
• I love Peter's answer when he's asked why they continued teaching in Jesus' name even after they were strictly forbidden to do so: "We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29).
• And I love the logic Gamaliel uses to reason with the council of chief priests who wanted to kill the apostles for speaking out in truth: "If this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!" (Acts 5:38-39). He mentioned several other men who rose to power and gathered quite a few followers, but reminded the leaders how everyone was scattered once those men had died. So, in effect he's saying, "Why bother fighting this? Let's just leave them alone. If it's from God we can't stop it anyway, but if it's from man then it will take care of itself in time." Interesting. I wonder why some athiests today feel the need to fight so vehemently against Christianity...