Not Nice To Try And Fool God
Ananias
God Is Our Rock
Scripture: Acts 5:3
But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?
Lesson Objective: To understand that we cannot hide our deeds from God.
Abraham Lincoln is given credit for the following quote: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time”. This quote can be modified to say that You cannot fool God neither sometime nor all of the time. There is nothing that we can do that God does not see no matter how dark it is. We must understand that we all have come short of the Glory of God and it is necessary that we constantly seek forgiveness from God. It is most certain that if we choose not to seek this forgiveness, we will receive the same fate as Ananias and his wife Sapphira.
Thought for today: While we may think that we are fooling people around us, they are not the one who will ultimately be judging us.
Encourager or Discourager
Barnabas
Scripture: Acts 4:36
And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus.
Lesson Objective: To understand how we affect others through encouragement or discouragement.
While we may like to think that we are independent thinkers whose actions are not dependant on others, nothing is more from the truth. In basketball, teams are usually seeking an advantage by playing at home rather than on the road. This advantage is not because of the size of the gym floor because all of the gym floors are the same size. It is not because of the height of the rim because all are the same size. The difference is the fans that cheer on their team. Most winning teams have loud and boisterous fans while loosing teams often have smaller number of supporters and fans that sit on their hands much of the game. Most often then not, it is not the team that dictates the fans but the fans that dictate their support of the team
Thought for today: Do you actively support those who are serving God or are you one that constantly criticizes and never has a kind word of support?
Tempter or Temptee Bathsheba
Scripture: 2 Samuel 11:2
Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold
Lesson Objective: To understand that we can place ourselves in a position that can cause others to sin.
Many people serve desserts after dinner. However, if one knows that a visitor is suffering from diabetes, should they still offer then dessert? Some would say yes because it is their house. While it may be their house, they should not tempt the visitor with a dessert that they know may harm them. We should be careful that we do not put others in a position of making a bad choice just because we are not so tempted. If I choose to display the dessert, am I at fault if the visitor eats what is not healthy for them or is the visitor at fault because they made a poor choice?
Thought for today: if we truly love our brother or sister we will be careful of the situation in which we place them.