Spiritual Suicide: Acts 5:1-11, especially vs. 4: "You have not lied to
men but to God." Many in our contemporary secularized society treat
religious language with great flippancy; while many, in the same vein,
assume that God is merely a social ideal that gives meaning to life.
Few think of standing before the Lord in awe or dread or fear. The
widespread abandonment of such soul-shaking consciousness adroitly
removes God from issues of life and death. Affairs which at one time
were received from "the hand of God," are now shriveled into ordinary,
passing moments along one's journey through life. Abortion becomes an
easy option, assisted suicide a viable choice, and euthanasia a
convenient alternative. Honestly, how many truly plead with God, "Ever
shelter me and guard and keep me from every soul-corrupting deed and
word....At Thy dread Second Coming make me, the sinner, worthy to stand
at the right hand of Thy glory"?
The contemporary life-style contrasts sharply with what the Holy
Fathers teach. The two views of life are irreconcilable. Let us be
aware as Orthodox Christians: we are committed to live in heightened
consciousness of our desperate need for "...humility and contrition of
heart, and meekness in...thoughts, and deliverance from the bondage
of...vain imaginings." The Apostle provides sober reason to reject the
easy, contemporary manner of living without God: "It is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31). Therefore, he
prompts us to "Take heed...of...an evil heart of unbelief, in departing
from the living God" (Heb. 3:12).
A real and constant danger for Orthodox Christians is the
possibility of having our relationship with God leached away. Pray we
never forget it is the Lord alone Who is able to "purge [our] conscience
from dead works to serve..." Him (Heb. 9:14). The possibility of being
numbered among the living dead, of being sundered from God's
loving-kindness, thrust away from His faithfulness, and lost "in that
land that is forgotten" (Ps. 87:13 LXX) ever remains a dread
potential. Thus, in considering the account of Ananias and Sapphira, we
should hold firmly to a holy fear of the Lord as we read of two people -
a couple like many of us -who commit spiritual suicide. And, let us
realize that their option remains quite available today. It is no fable.
First, this couple confused external action with interior purpose.
Most of the members of the early Jerusalem Christian community were so
mindful of the urgent grace of God upon their lives that they disdained
material possessions. Like Barnabas, they sold properties, "brought the
money and laid it at the Apostles' feet" (Acts 4:37). Such activity was
a direct expression of their being "of one heart and of one soul" (vs.
4:32) in the Spirit. Hence, they could not abide that "anyone among
them...lacked" (vs. 4:34). But two blighted souls pretended to turn
some proceeds over to the Apostles as if what they gave were all they
had. Their failure, a pretense lacking concern for the state of their
hearts and souls, was a step into spiritual death.
Being unable to separate movement in the heart from objective
offering, Ananias and Sapphira masqueraded. It was not that they held
back a portion for financial need, but that they "played the part" of
total giving. Believing the act was the point, they sought approval by
pretending to do what others were doing. They lived out a lie through a
charade. Of course, Satan filled their hearts the moment they assumed
they could "lie to the Holy Spirit" (vs. 5:3).
May God keep us from believing that mere acts merit God's approval.
As St. Paul says, "the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure
heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned" (1 Tim. 1:5).
All else is spiritual suicide - to become one of the walking dead before
the living God. "Blessed is the man...in whose mouth there is no guile"
(Ps. 31:2 LXX).
O Lord, turn not Thy face away from me lest I be like unto them that
go down into the pit.