Lying To God

TO READ: Acts 5:1-11

Then Peter said, “Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself.”

Acts 5:3

In the versions of the Bible that I first read, the Holy Spirit was often referred to as the “Holy Ghost.” As I read the Bible, I discovered the Holy Spirit was a Person —in fact, the third Person of the Trinity —and not a shrouded being.

I also found I could treat him as a Person. I could resist him (Genesis 6:3), insult him (Hebrews 10:26-31), stifle him (1 Thessalonians 5:19), and grieve him (Ephesians 4:25-31). The most sober realization and conviction of all dawned upon me as I read Acts 5:1-11 —I could lie to him!

The story tells of Ananias and Sapphira, who sold a piece of property and laid the proceeds at the feet of the apostles. Their sin lay not in the fact that they only brought half of the price, but that they said they brought all of it!

How often have I lied to the Holy Spirit? I thought. “You have all my time,” I had told him when I first became a believer, yet that was just not true. “You have all my money,” I had intoned in a pious platitude at a prayer meeting. “Not so,” the Spirit whispered in my ear! “You have all my heart,” I had promised many, many times.

How glad I am that God does not deal with us as he dealt with Ananias and Sapphira. If he did, I would not be writing this book! The Holy Spirit is a Person, and I need to apologize to him and ask his forgiveness.