When Jesus was in the wilderness, two of his temptations began with these words:
If you are the son of God, then…
It’s strange isn’t it! You would have thought that being told to turn stones into bread when you haven’t eaten for 40 days would be temptation enough but it clearly wasn’t for the Devil.
Rather than just attacking Jesus’ weaknesses, the Devil attacks his identity and I think that he is still in the same business today.
These first two temptations involve the Devil daring Jesus to prove that he really is the son of God.
Thankfully, Jesus knew he was the son of God and so he didn’t have to do anything to prove it. If he hadn’t been secure in the knowledge that he was God’s son, then things could have ended quite differently with him being provoked to act to prove who he was.
How about you?
If you are a Christian, do you believe that you are God’s child and that he loves you?
Are you secure in your loving relationship with God or do you believe the lies of the Devil when he whispers that we aren’t loved and that we are just a disappointment to God.
In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the son ends up in such a mess that he decides to tell his father that he was no longer worthy to be called his son. In contrast to Jesus, the prodigal had no sense of being loved but thankfully the Father saw things differently.
The father ran to meet his son even though this was the child who had let him down and who had hurt him so badly.
The prodigal thought he was no longer a son and he behaved accordingly expecting to be rejected.
The father still loved his son and he behaved accordingly welcoming his child home.
Do we know who we are?
Do we believe that we are accepted as children of God or do we expect him to reject and be disappointed with us?
The belief that we have about who we are will determine how we behave and live!
If you want to think more about who you are then you might find this music video helpful:
Honest about my faith 