So… who wants to be Alexander the coppersmith when they grow up?? 😂 This scripture in Timothy often makes me laugh … especially as, in the church, we are all so particular about speaking well, or even not speaking at all about other people. Speaking out didn’t’ seem to bother Paul, He wrote it down!… I think that is because Paul knew Who was really in charge. What a spiritual perspective that is!! 

Paul’s theology seems pretty clear – God is going to deal with good old Alexander, and he was not above warning Timothy against this particular man. His reference point was God not the man! This is a great illustration from the bible how to deal with someone who opposes you. Leave them to God to sort out. Don’t hold a grudge, just give them to Him. Now, here’s second point to think on. This one will definitely sort out anyone’s truthfulness and motivation! 

Acts 5:1-10“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 just to human beings but to God.”When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened… … About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 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 conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also…”

Can I hear any Amen about this scripture? I wonder how many people would fall dead at our harvest, pledges  and promises’ services, if the power of God was present now, like it was back then??? 😱 That kind of makes you think eh? It reminds me of the story of the man who wanted the Lord’s favour in a battle, and so he told God he would sacrifice whatever came out first to meet him when he went home. And his little daughter ran out… … tough call!! (Judges 11-12.)

OK. Here we go, let’s lighten the mood with a personal story about how dumb I can be.  A long time ago, hubby and I were really short on funds for one of our trips etc. So we prayed together that God would meet that need, because we could not pay the travel bills. Meanwhile, I’m watching a TV sermon, and the preacher said: “God will give you the money you need, just ask Him for it.” Then he named a sum that would have cleared up our shortfall. So I prayed and asked for that sum we needed, and then I told the Lord, if He provided it … we would give the money back to Him. (What on earth WAS I thinking??)  😳 Actually, I don’t think I thought the money would turn up!

The next day … the money came. Out of the blue. Yeah, it was the exact amount we desperately needed, go figure, it seemed that the Lord called my bluff!! Apparently He plays poker better than I ever could! My dear hubby is jumping about doing a little dance, because this was going to get us out of a big hole … hooray for Jesus! HOWEVER … I had promised God that if the money came, I would give it to Him.  Now, here is my huge mistake … I forgot to tell hubby what I had done. So I had to ‘fess up and tell him that we could not keep these funds because I had promised the Lord we would give them to Him. 

Yikes. That was not the most fun conversation we ever had together. Actually we had a big fight over it and that is the complete truth .. but in the end we fixed it. Obviously. And then we sent off the money. Plus I learnt a lot about what to say, and what not to say to the Lord!  “Let your yes be yes and your no be no…”  so to speak! Off we go travelling using our faith, because we still don’t have that money we need — one of us, not pointing at anyone mind you, gave that away. And low and behold, the exact amount we needed came to us 4 days into our travels. The kindness of Almighty God IRL. Boy was I relieved — to say the least!

This bible story about Ananias and Sapphira taught me something. It showed me that agreements between husband and wife have power in them – whether those agreements are good or bad! So couples had better agree, pray and think about what they are saying and doing together, because God sees them as ONE. Plus, the power of agreement introduces dual responsibility. Secondly, that story also illustrates that God takes us all at our word and we can’t fool Him. Which seems totally fair to me … because we expect Him to honour HIS WORD to us!!  In this story in Acts, fudging the books led to two funerals! 

I think the Lord is saying today – don’t promise what you can’t fulfil. Like I’ve said before, the bible is a book of contrasts, and we need to take what it says seriously … because, quite obviously!! HE does! Spiritual perspective is important, it’s always a good thing to ask for. Bye. 👋🏻