Today, I am reading and commenting on Acts 4-6.

After the Sanhedrin warned Peter and John not to preach in Jesus’ name under threat, the Believers prayed.  They did not pray for protection.  No, they prayed that God would enable them to speak boldly in the face of these threats.  They also prayed that God would heal and perform signs through the name of Jesus.  We today should have a similar attitude.  Rather than pray for protection for ourselves in the face of persecution, we should seek the courage to speak God’s word boldly in the face of it (we can, however, pray that God protects others who are facing persecution for faithfully following God).

The story of Ananias and Sapphira stands as a grim warning to all of us.  When Ananias lied about how much money he had received for the field he sold, he was not lying just to the Apostles, not even just to the Church, he was lying to the Holy Spirit.  As I was reading this today I was reminded that Jesus told us that the only unforgivable sin was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.   So, I think that this passage gives us more insight into what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is.  Ananias wanted to be seen as holy and sacrificing without actually sacrificing.  He had no obligation to sell the land.  He had no obligation to give any money from the sale of the land to God’s work.  It would have been perfectly acceptable to give some of the money to the Church while keeping some for himself.  Where he went wrong was by keeping some of the money for himself while claiming that what he gave was the entire sum which he had gotten for the sale of the land..

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.