I DO NOT like the story of Ananais and Sapphira. While no one seems to have made them sell the field, they were certainly punished quite severely for their failure to be honest about it all. Lie to the church = instantaneous death!
And the story ends "And great fear seized the whole church and all who heard of these things." (v. 11). Not my idea of what the church should be - or the community of believers.
When I try to work in how my life and this story mesh, I find I like the story even less. If the story is about lying to the church - then I'm pretty much okay. I'm honest about who I am and what I am able to offer and give willingly.
If the story is about giving everything, then it doesn't look so good for me. I do keep part of myself away from the community. Some of that is my personaility - I can be quite private in some ways. And I'm not really ready to be part of the complete and overwhelming church community in Acts. Some days it's all I can do to fully share my life with Marcus and the kids (especially the kids, who see everything and comment on it freely). I like some freedom and autonomy and anonymity - sharing everything all the time is asking a lot.
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