In order to persuade God to answer a prayer, some people try to make a bargain with him. They say things like, “If you do this, I will go to church every Sunday and put money in the offering plate.” We need to understand that God does not work this way. Out of his love and mercy he provides blessings to us. Also, out of his mercy and love he answers prayer as we come to him in the name of Jesus our Savior. A key element of God’s answers is trust and faith. He wants to bless us, but he will not be back to the corner or bribed.
In the book of Acts, chapter 8 is the story of a man who got all this confused. His name is Simon. Great miracles were done in that chapter as result of the ministry of Philip. Simon was a sorcerer that was held in high regard by the people of Samaria. The people believed him to be a great person. It is said that he bewitched the people so that he might have this authority over them.
After Philip preached many people accepted Christ as Savior and were baptized. Simon also was baptized. He continued with Philip observing the miracles and signs that were done. This was such a wonderful display of God giving his Spirit to those who responded. The apostles in Jerusalem sent Peter and John to complement the wonderful things that had been happening.
Unfortunately, Simon’s old way of thinking surfaced. He attempted to bribe the disciples with money hoping to get the same display of spiritual presence among the people. Simon lacked any semblance of humility which is a key element of the person who’s going to serve God in behalf of others .He’s an example of someone who accepted Christ but had difficulty dealing with his carnal self. He still wanted to be upheld as someone who was great.
Peter rebuked Simon who thought he could purchase God’s authority. The charge against Simon was that his heart still was not right with God even though he became a Christian. Are there not so many of us in that same situation? We want to serve God, but we also want the acolytes of the world. Today we call it walking on both sides of the fence. Peter told him that he was in the bond of iniquity. It did not mean he lost his salvation. It did mean he enjoyed the benefits of sin. Some people accused Christians of being holier than thou on Sunday and in the saloon on Monday.
The scene ends much better than it started. When his sin was pointed out, he asked for prayer to be right with God in every sense. With that shocking accusation, Simon realized that he had not wholeheartedly surrendered to the Lord. To serve Christ we must surrender all that we are, all that we think, although we expect out of life. This is akin to Paul telling other believers that they were drinking the milk of the Word instead of eating the meat of the Word. In other words, he said they were acting like spiritual babies.
The lesson for us is to daily self-examine where we are with the Lord. Do we have any hidden sin? Do we have any special sin that we enjoy? Have we made ourselves appear before others as a strong Christian when, in fact, we are not that strong at all? Ours is to follow the example of Simon. When the Holy Spirit reveals something about our inside self, we must go to God in prayer for forgiveness and strength.
Christian Writer 