What if your little white lie cost your life?

Acts 5:1-11
Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.
Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."
When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?" "Yes," she said, "that is the price."
Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also."
At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
NIV

Now this of course is more than “Honey I stole a cookie while you weren’t looking.” This was big stuff at that time. If you read in the book of Acts the early Believers lived in the way that they took care of each other in their “church family” so to the fact that if one had wealth, he sold all and gave the full sale price to the apostles to distribute to the needy. That would be unheard of today! “We worked hard for what we got and they (those lazy needy ones) should do the same.” This unfortunately, is what many a good Christian feels deep in his heart and for that, deserves to be condemned. Over and over in the Word of God we are instructed to take care of the widow and the fatherless, and give to the poor. If we are constantly being instructed by the greatest Teacher of all, then why doesn’t it sink in?

Praise God we have a forgiving Savior who knows our heart and all the garbage within it. He knows our thoughts even before they become words. He’s aware of our actions long before they are conjured. And believe it or not, He still loves us! Isn’t that amazing? How could He love someone like me? How could He even look me in the eye and say I am proud of you my daughter? I am a wretched sinner (just like you) and cannot fathom the greatness of His love for me. But I must believe it if I am to be called one of His own.

Unlike Ananias and Sapphira, I am fully aware that nothing I do is done in secret. There is nothing I do that He is not privy to not even the tiniest of white lies. So when I reach for that cookie that is not on my diet food list, I might hide it from my sweetie but there is no way on earth that it is hidden from my Lord and Savior. And just because He loves me doesn’t mean I won’t have consequences to pay for my sin. You know that cookie I told you about? An extra 20 minutes at the gym might be sufficient, unless of course Travis is your trainer! Think about that.