{"id":5713,"date":"2026-09-04T08:14:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T12:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5713"},"modified":"2026-09-04T08:14:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T12:14:21","slug":"the-trivialization-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/04\/the-trivialization-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trivialization of God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast<\/em>,\u00a0click here<\/a>


The Bible brims with inspiring stories. That\u2019s something that students of Scripture expect. \u00a0

What surprises many first-time readers is the number of shocking<\/em> stories \u2013 accounts that leave us wondering, \u201cWhat in the world was God thinking?\u201d

One such event happens during the earliest days of the Jerusalem church, presumably within a year or two of the resurrection of Jesus:

\u201cNow a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife\u2019s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles\u2019 feet. Then Peter said, \u2018Ananias, 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?… What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.\u2019 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died.<\/em>

\u201cAbout three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, \u2018Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?\u2019 \u2018Yes,\u2019 she said, \u2018that is the price.\u2019 Peter said to her, \u2018How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.\u2019<\/em>

\u201cAt that moment she fell down at his feet and died\u2026 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events\u201d<\/em> (Acts 5:1-11, selections).

This story is terrifying, and for a simple reason. Ananias and Sapphira are not the only people who have ever lied to their church treasurer. And they\u2019re not the only couple in your church directory who have ever pretended to be more spiritual than they actually were. Perhaps you\u2019re picturing your own smiling face in that directory right now.

Yet (as far as we know) Ananias and Sapphira are the only such posers who have ended up the same day in caskets.

What is the bottom line of this account? God is holy, and if we do not regard him with respectful awe, there will be consequences.\u00a0

We are fooling ourselves, in other words, if we think that we can treat God like a chump, like someone who can be managed with a little sleight of hand. Author and pastor Don McCullough writes, \u201cIt may well be that the worst sin of the church [during our lifetimes] has been the trivialization of God.\u201d

Mercifully, God does not strike all of us dead. So why are Ananias and Sapphira singled out for this shocking moment of public accountability?

There are at least three historical precedents in the Old Testament. When God brought his people out of Egypt, he instituted specific instructions for leading worship. But two men, Nadab and Abihu \u2013 the sons of Aaron the high priest \u2013 casually decided to ignore them. God struck both of them dead.\u00a0

When Israel was first entering the Promised Land, a man named Achan disobeyed God and kept some of the plunder from the city of Jericho. God struck down Achan and his entire family.

When David was bringing the Ark of the Covenant up to Jerusalem, and the ark began to slide off an ox cart towards the ground, a man named Uzzah put out his hand to stop it. God struck him down. Theologian R.C. Sproul suggests that Uzzah apparently believed his hand was more holy than God\u2019s dirt.\u00a0\u00a0

What do these jarring events have in common?\u00a0

In each case, a new spiritual era is beginning. In each case, certain people refuse to take God\u2019s holiness seriously. In each case, God makes it clear that he will not be trivialized.\u00a0

So it is with Ananias and Sapphira. They became an enduring object lesson for the early church. As Acts 5:11 reminds us, \u201dGreat fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.\u201d\u00a0

The Bible repeatedly tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This kind of fear means profound respect. We acknowledge that God, for want of a better word, is dangerous.

So is the electricity that comes into my house. If my power goes off because a limb has fallen onto a power line, I would never say to Mary Sue, \u201cPiece of cake, I\u2019ll be back in ten minutes.\u201d In all likelihood I would not be coming back at all. It\u2019s not that electricity somehow has it in for me. Instead I need to be seriously respectful of the power of electric current.

So what can we do to shape our minds and hearts around the holiness of God? We can remember what we were taught about traffic safety back in elementary school: Stop, Look, and Listen<\/em>.\u00a0

Our first task is to Stop<\/strong>. As we noted in Psalm 46:10 earlier this week: \u201cBe still and know that I am God.\u201d In our insanely cluttered worlds, where multitudes of distractions threaten to co-opt every spare second, this remains a major challenge. But as we choose to put on the brakes, we are reminded that God is God, and we are not. And that\u2019s an exceedingly helpful reminder.

Next, we Look<\/strong>. Look at Scripture. God tells us about himself through the words of both Old and New Testaments. The psalms in particular acquaint us with God\u2019s nature and holiness. A good place to start is by pondering two special blocks of psalms: numbers 92 through 100, and 145 through 150.\u00a0

Finally, Listen<\/strong>. Turn off the TV. Silence your phone. Cultivate silence. Let God gently speak to you not just about his holiness, but his matchless mercy and grace.

Stop, Look, and Listen<\/em>: What difference does it make?

That\u2019s the formula for safety \u2013 not just for walking to school, but for walking with God the rest of our lives.
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here The Bible brims with inspiring stories. That\u2019s something that students of Scripture expect. \u00a0 What surprises many first-time readers is the number of shocking stories \u2013 accounts that leave us wondering, \u201cWhat in the world was God thinking?\u201d One such event happens during the earliest days of the Jerusalem church, presumably… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5714,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1210],"class_list":["post-5713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gods-holiness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5715,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5713\/revisions\/5715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}