Lesson Nine - The Identity Crisis Temptation
“If you are the Son of God…”
This is certainly an invitation to doubt God and God’s Word. By starting a challenge with that mild ‘If you are a child of God, …’Satan seeks to draw us out to doubt that which we have received by faith, our most important relationship with God.
Now, we are also children of God. In what manner should we express our privileged relationship with God in situations of need? Should we do the bidding of everyone who challenges us to prove our relationship by doing this or that? Certainly not! What God says we are is what we are . We need do nothing to prove who we are in Christ.
As children of God, we know who we are. We express our relationship with God only by seeking and obeying His will, even in our moments of need (Php 2:15).
Such provocations do come always in different shades, and is it something of a coincidence that two out of the three statements Satan made to Christ were prefaced with “If you are the Son of God…”? What about “If you are a man of God”; “If you are anointed”; “If you are a prophet”; “If you live by God’s word”; “If the Lord is your shepherd”; “If you are the head and not the tail”; “If you are holy, etc”. We should beware of all such provocations.
The Apostle John calls us to humility and responsibility with this reminder: “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He shall be revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1Jo 3:2) The proof of our sonship should be that we are led by the Spirit of God (Ro 8:14).
This is certainly an invitation to doubt God and God’s Word. By starting a challenge with that mild ‘If you are a child of God, …’Satan seeks to draw us out to doubt that which we have received by faith, our most important relationship with God.
Now, we are also children of God. In what manner should we express our privileged relationship with God in situations of need? Should we do the bidding of everyone who challenges us to prove our relationship by doing this or that? Certainly not! What God says we are is what we are . We need do nothing to prove who we are in Christ.
As children of God, we know who we are. We express our relationship with God only by seeking and obeying His will, even in our moments of need (Php 2:15).
Such provocations do come always in different shades, and is it something of a coincidence that two out of the three statements Satan made to Christ were prefaced with “If you are the Son of God…”? What about “If you are a man of God”; “If you are anointed”; “If you are a prophet”; “If you live by God’s word”; “If the Lord is your shepherd”; “If you are the head and not the tail”; “If you are holy, etc”. We should beware of all such provocations.
The Apostle John calls us to humility and responsibility with this reminder: “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He shall be revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1Jo 3:2) The proof of our sonship should be that we are led by the Spirit of God (Ro 8:14).
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