Hold Nothing Back

“and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.” (Acts 5:2-5 ESV)

The questions The Apostle Peter poses here are piercing, especially if we turn the sharp inquisition toward our own lives. What if this wasn’t about property and money? What if this moment was a message for our lives?

What if the Scripture is really asking, “Have we lied to the Holy Spirit and kept back a part of ourselves? Was not our life our own to do with what we pleased before we made Jesus Christ Lord of our life? Why is it that we have contrived this deed in our heart ... to say that we have given our life to Jesus, but yet we have held back a portion of it for ourselves?”

In the context of our faith, I believe these questions are relevant today, and the outcome is the same. Like Ananias, those who hold back a portion of their life yet pretend to present the whole to God eventually fall, and their faith dies (Read Luke 8:13). James, the brother of Jesus Christ, writes, “For as the human body apart from the spirit is lifeless, so faith apart from [its] works of obedience is also dead” (James 2:26 AMPC).

This issue of holding back is not new. The Lord knows what is in man, and from the beginning, He has encouraged us to guard our hearts from pretending to be something we are not. For example, in Exodus, Moses records his encounter with the Living God on a mountain where he was instructed by the Great I AM to write the Ten Commandments. These Ten Commandments would become the foundation of moral life and the fundamental principles of godly living for those who would follow God. However, the third commandment is often misunderstood. It states, “Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”

For most Western Christians, we understand this commandment as a warning to never use the name of God recklessly or in a meaningless way. For example, when someone gets upset and out of frustration may yell, “Jesus Christ!” Or when someone is mad, and they shout, “God d@%# it!” Most television networks will beep these statements out as a curse word (and to not engage your web browser’s parent controls, I also have to censor the phrase—which only proves the point). However, though I acknowledge these rude uses of God’s name are disrespectful and wrong, this is not really what the third commandment is talking about. The third commandment is a warning against pretending to be something you are not.

“Are you holding back? The Lord is asking you right now to stop and measure what it means to follow Him and to give Him your whole life. Your life was yours to begin with, and you can do with it what you please. However, if you step forward to present your soul to the King of Glory, hold nothing back.”

The third commandment is saying don’t take on the name of The Lord unless we mean to represent who He is! It is a warning against holding back or pretending we are a follower of God when we’ve actually held back a portion of our life for our selfish desires or sinful lifestyle. The third commandment is warning us against calling ourselves “Christians” when our lives and behavior are not “Christ-like” at all!

It would be as if someone put on a team jersey but had no idea how to play the team’s sport, didn’t know the coach, didn’t know the plays, nor did they intend to do what was necessary to train to win. They have taken on the team name in vain. They may wear the name, but they don’t belong to the team. Or it would be like a woman taking on the name of her husband with no intention of being faithful to him alone. She has taken on his name in vain, and her vows were meaningless because her actions didn’t correlate with the name she took on as her own.

This is why the Lord said, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:27-28 ESV)

Jesus goes on to say, “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33 ESV).

Are you holding back? The Lord is asking you right now to stop and measure what it means to follow Him and to give Him your whole life. Your life was yours to begin with, and you can do with it what you please. However, if you step forward to present your soul to the King of Glory, hold nothing back ... we are commanded to give it all and do not lie to the Holy Spirit. Give Him ownership of your thoughts, your opinions, your behavior, your work, your marriage, your family, your future, your entertainment ... let Him have it all! Hold nothing back ... because The Lord so loved us that He held nothing back from us—He gave His life for us—He gave it all on the cross, so hold nothing back from Him.

“For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” (Deuteronomy 4:24 ESV)

Let me remind you that The Lord requires that we give Him everything, yet we are putting our lives into the hands of He, who is Love, He is Good, He is Truth, He is Life. He knows that if we give Him our life, He can then multiply it into something far greater than our best intentions. When we place our entire life at His feet, He then takes it and transforms it into something so amazing, so fulfilling, so supernatural, so loving, and everlasting. When we lose our life for Jesus and hold nothing back, we gain immeasurably more!

Prayer: Lord, I give it all. The portion I have held back from You, I now give. I let you in to take the things that I have been unwilling to give up or was afraid to let go of. You have all my heart, all my soul, and all my strength. I present my whole life afresh and new. I have counted the cost and realize you are worth my entire life! I renounce all sin and turn from evil that I know keeps me from knowing You wholly. Jesus, you are my everything, I love You! I hold nothing back! Amen.

Take Action: Faith without obedience is dead. This is where the rubber meets the road. If you meant that prayer and are presenting your whole life, you must now give up those things that you have kept back for yourself. For example, maybe you have refused to give up an immoral relationship with your boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe a relationship has become sexually immoral, and you need to establish new boundaries to maintain holiness. Or maybe you're viewing websites that are immoral and unholy, and you need to delete some apps and use some software that will keep you accountable. Faith in God is alive when you take action to remove sin to please God and live for Him wholly.

By Joseph E.O. Mead