“9 A man named Simon had previously practiced sorcery in that city and astounded the Samaritan people, while claiming to be somebody great. 10 They all paid attention to him, from the least of them to the greatest, and they said, “This man is called the Great Power of God!” 11 They were attentive to him because he had astounded them with his sorceries for a long time. 12 But when they believed Philip, as he preached the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. 13 Then even Simon himself believed. And after he was baptized, he went around constantly with Philip and was astounded as he observed the signs and great miracles that were being performed.

14 When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had welcomed God’s message, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 After they went down there, they prayed for them, so the Samaritans might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For He had not yet come down on any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

18 When Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, “Give me this power too, so that anyone I lay hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”

20 But Peter told him, “May your silver be destroyed with you, because you thought the gift of God could be obtained with money! 21 You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 For I see you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”

24 “Please, pray to the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”

25 Then, after they had testified and spoken the message of the Lord, they traveled back to Jerusalem, evangelizing many villages of the Samaritans.”

Acts 8:9-25

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I cannot tell you how many times I have had conversations with people centered around a behavior, habit or practice that they have tried to maintin from their old life in their new life with Christ. Simon the sorcerer dealt with this same issue, fought this same battle and fell to it. He used to be ‘the man’ in the area where he lived. He participated in the dark arts, which affroded him some fear and respect among his people and neighbors. But when the light of the truth of the Gospel came into the picture, the people saw real power, real authority and Simon’s act only seemed like a dim light in comparison to the blazing evidence of God that was laid before them. 

And Simon, at first, saw and recognized it, too. And he left that life behind for a time. But, as happens with most of us from time to time, those old thoughts and habits and desires crept up and in this case, they got the best of him, and he received a very quick, very sharp rebuke from Peter & the apostles because his heart and his thinking were very, very wrong. 

We all have our moments, don’t we?

The struggles that I deal with and the struggles you deal with may be very different. The point of the matter is acknowledging them before hand, being very open and honest with ourselves, with God and maybe even with someone who could help keep us accountable. That way, when temptation starts to creep up, we have an outlet, someone to talk to and hash things out and a way to learn -how- to do what is right as we grow in our faith. No one is so incredibly mature that they can do this on their own. No man is an island.

Simon the sorcerer stands as a warnign and a reminder to us that we need to separate ourselves from our old lives, our old paths, our old habits and move on to new, better fields when we come to Christ. Those old paths are well worn, and its all too easy to get our wheel hung up in our old ruts again, and then we find ourselves headed right back into the same nonsense that we were into before. 

My heart goes out to people like Simon, but we all must be accountable for our actions. Every choice we make is a choice that we have to make intentionally. Nothing we do ‘just happens’ or comes about by accident. When we walk too close to the edge, we have to know that the odds say we are going to fall back in again. It’s just human nature. 

We don’t have all the details on why Simon’s heart and mind made this leap to try to purchase the Holy Spirit.It obviously shows an ignorance and immaturity on his part, but he let it run too long, and so it caused his fall. Tradition, not scripture, tells us that Simon became what is known as a proto-Gnostic, he became convinced that the faith was really all about secret knowledge and other interpretations of the spiritual realm and that he himself was this voice of God, not Jesus. Again, that’s tradition, not scripture, so take that with a grain of salt. 

The reminder here is for us to be mindful of ourselves. I am all too good at falling back into my bad habits and practices if I don’t make a very definitive break and change what and how I do things and conduct myself. I can’t flirt around with the old ways, and I’m going to assume that you cannot either. 

New paths aren’t always comfortable, but when Jesus is the one making them before us, we can be assured that His plans are always for our best. God’s plans are to prosper us, to give us a hope and a future, and never lead to what we see happening with Simon here in Acts 8. As we GoLove people, making disciples, we need to be as firm and loving as we can when we help them find these new paths in Christ, leaving the old life solidly behind. Be present with them, walk in hand in hand and show them the joy that you have found in Christ and your new life in Him.  And authentically lived life in Christ is always going to be more attractive than the old life of sin, shame and sorrow.