Everybody, Always

down before I’m worn out. One week, I wanted to impress her and prove
what great shape I was in. I told her all week how I was going to hike the
hill five times on Saturday. I told her on Monday and Tuesday, “I’m
going up that hill five times next weekend!” I told her the same thing on
Wednesday and Thursday: “I’m going up that hill five times next
weekend.” I told her the same thing on Friday: “I’m going up that hill
five times!” Saturday morning finally came. I laced up my shoes and
headed for the hill. When I got back, Sweet Maria asked me how many
times I’d gone up the hill. I puffed out my chest and with five
outstretched fingers said in my most manly voice, “I went up that hill
five times!”
Then I thought about it for a second.
I’d only gone up the hill three times, just like always.
I wasn’t trying to fib or mislead anyone. What happened was simply
this: I’d told myself I was going to go up that hill five times on Saturday
so many times I actually believed I’d done it.
The same thing happens in our faith. We hope for good things to
happen to people in need. We hope it and we hope it and we hope it some
more. When we do, our brain can fool us into thinking we’re actually
helping. But hoping isn’t helping. Hoping is just hoping. Don’t be fooled.
It’s easy to do.
Ananias and Sapphira loved God a lot. They sold their land and gave
all the money away—well, almost all of it. I bet on Monday and Tuesday
Ananias told God and everyone around him he was going to sell his land
and give it all away. He probably said the same thing on Wednesday and
Thursday: “I’m giving it all away.” He probably told everybody on Friday
the same thing again: “I’m giving it all away.” On Saturday morning, he
came to his friends and they asked how much was there. Ananias proudly
said, “All of it!” You might remember how the story went. He had kept
some of the money for himself and his wife. It was an entirely reasonable
thing to do. I do it all the time. It didn’t go well for them.
Ananias was posing as someone he wasn’t yet, and he and his wife