"But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?"
I've always been fascinated with this story. Ananias and then his wife Sapphira both fell dead after having lied to Peter on the sale price of their land. Why did they even consecrate it if they didn't want to do that? Now I've understood the part of this story about honestly and spiritual death for lying but I thought there was more. I found this wonderful Oct. 1992 General Conference talk on consecration by Neal A. Maxwell, "Settle This in Your Hearts".
"Likewise it is only fair to warn that any determination to seek greater consecration will soon expose what we yet lack, a painful but necessary thing. Remember the rich, righteous young man who was told by Jesus, "One thing thou lackest"? Ananias and Sapphira, otherwise good members of the Church, "kept back" a portion instead of consecrating their all. Some would never sell Jesus for thirty pieces, but they would not give Him their all either!
Unfortunately, we tend to think of consecration only in terms of property and money. But there are so many ways of keeping back part. One might be giving of money and time and yet hold back a significant portion of himself. ..One might hold back from kneeling before God’s throne and yet bow to a particular gallery of peers. One might accept a Church calling but have his heart more set on maintaining a certain role in the world.
Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus! Consecration is the only surrender which is also a victory... Heavenly Father is only asking us to lose the old self in order to find the new and the real self. It is not a question of losing our identity but of finding our true identity!
Increased consecration is not so much a demand for more hours of Church work as it is for more awareness of Whose work this really is! For now, consecration may not require giving up worldly possessions so much as being less possessed by them."
Day 1596
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