How to Impress People
Last night my wife and I watched the Ken Davis video Good News. He was funny (as always) and made some good points. He talked about how many problems come from trying to impress others. It frequently causes us to act in ways that are out of character, or say things that…let’s say they’re worded in such a way as to give a different impression than the truth. Like in high school, when we want to fit in with a certain group. Or in business when we want to impress someone. Or even in church.
Then in my Bible reading this morning I came to the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. We had just read at the end of Acts 2 and Acts 4 how the believers were living in generous community. The last sentence of Acts 4 says, “Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”
It was a situation in which generosity and sharing were the norm. Others saw that that was how members of the group acted. And this was a cool group! Acts 2:47 says they enjoyed the favor of all the people.
Ananias and Sapphira wanted to be part of this cool group, so they tried to impress the apostles. They sold a piece of property and brought part of the money to the apostles to share with the group. So far, so good. The problem is that they claimed they were donating the full amount they got from the property. They wanted to impress people, so they lied. It cost them their lives.
Peter was incredulous. “Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.”
Peter was saying they would have been thrilled to receive a portion of the money. That wouldn’t have been considered a negative. The problem was trying to impress by appearing to do more. Even worse, when we do that we aren’t just lying to people…we’re lying to God.
Of course today it’s called “spin.” It’s the art of withholding information and choosing words to put the best possible face on something. The Bible calls it something else. A lie.
