Living a Lie

Today I read the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11).  They sold a possession of theirs and gave some of their profit to the church.  They said that they gave all of their profit, but they really kept some of it for themselves.  Hypocrisy . . . it's not just telling a lie; it's living one.

The problem was not that they kept some of the profit.  They weren't required to give anything in the first place.  Their action was wrong because they purposefully tried to deceive others to think that they were more spiritual than they really were.  They wanted to appear to be a certain way.  Their concern was looking godly rather than being godly.  

My focus ought to be on being godly rather than looking, or acting, godly.  The first is a work of God; the second, a work of me (my flesh), and "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing" (Rom. 7:18).  If the first is true of me, then the second will come "naturally".

I don't want to be a "self-made" man.  I want to be a man of God, and only God can make a man of God.