Sunday 6 May 2012

Sunday Reading: Acts 5:1-10

Key Verse: Acts 5:5
5  And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

Devotion:
No matter how many times you try to convince some people that God is watching their every step, they will just not get it! There is no place that we can sweep things under the carpet no matter how much we think that God may not be watching. If you could imagine what it would be like to have a camera crew following your every move for a year you may be getting close to what it may be like to know that God is watching; but then you could always hide at some point in time from the crew whereas with God that is just not possible.

When Jesus told us that He would make sure that we had the Holy Spirit with us continually it was not as a threat to say that we will have to watch out but rather as a promise of a comforter and friend that would always be there. But it is because of that difference between a threat and a treat, we go all soft on the idea that God is with us! Much the same as we act very differently when we know we are being watched over by someone soft as opposed to when someone very stern is watching over us, we have this idea that somehow God is different.

We lose track on the fact that it is God who has created everything. We lose track on the fact that it is God who judged the earth in the days of Noah. We lose track of the fact that God is Holy and will not abide sin in any form. But just because we lose track on those facts does not mean that God is losing track of anything whatsoever. He is not limited by time and place as we are and so when we think of Him watching over us we think of Him being at a particular place at a particular time, so we build up this idea that He cannot possibly be everywhere always!

It is God’s Word itself that must remind us continually that He is ever watchful. Times like this where Ananias and Sapphira are caught in the act, or when people have been singled out and reminded that God is watching them that should keep us on our toes. But no matter how we look at it, it is because of His love for us that God promised us a Comforter and not an ogre! Christ had reminded us this fact and wanted us to know not just that we would have someone watching our every move, but that He would be there to comfort and guide us always.

Points to Ponder:
Do you act differently when people are watching?

Do you ever remember that God is actually there too?