Reading in the gospel of Luke yesterday, I was reminded how Jesus worked out of His position of Sonship—His identity. In Luke 3:22, after Jesus’ baptism, a voice came from heaven saying: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Please note, Jesus’ ministry had yet to be inaugurated. He hadn’t performed one recorded miracle at this point in His life. God was pleased with Him because of who He was, not because of what He’d done. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit, and, at this point, He was being led (or driven) to the wilderness. Now it’s very interesting, in the next chapter, Jesus is tempted by Satan three times. Two of those temptations dealt directly with Jesus’ identity. First of all, Satan challenged what God had just spoken to Jesus; “You are my Son.” Satan tempted: “If you are the Son of God.” This really isn’t a new trick. Satan has been challenging the Word of the Lord from the beginning. Remember with Adam and Eve, he said: “ Hath God said?” That’s the work of Satan, to challenge the word of God. The kingdom of God works like a man planting a seed, that seed is God’s word to us. Satan’s kingdom is challenged when we take God at His word. It’s not our talent, might, or ability that threatens Satan, it’s the word of God received into our heart that threatens him. Jesus knew His identity. He knew He was the Son of God. Satan was challenging that fact. It’s also interesting that Satan wanted Jesus to do a miracle, or to act in a way to prove He was the Son of God. This is a crafty strategy He also uses on Christians. God confirms our identity and immediately Satan challenges it: “Who do you think you are? Everyone knows what you’ve done. You’ve done too many bad things. If you’re really saved, prove it!” God wants us to follow Jesus and to work from the position of Sonship, from a position of resting in Christ finished work, not from a performance mentality. Sometimes, even very good teaching and testimony can cause us to strive. Our works for the Lord should never come from the mindset, I’m proving myself or I’m earning God’s favor. We are truly saved by grace, even our works come from God. We are saved by grace to do good works that God has prepared for us before the world began (Eph 2:8-10). There’s plenty to do and God will have us step out quite often if we are willing; but, our works should spring from our relationship with God and out of fellowship with the Spirit. You can’t fake relationship and you can’t earn relationship. Relationship comes by spending time with God, in His word and in prayer, followed by simple acts of obedience to what He is speaking. Our works come through simple trust. There’s a childlikeness to following Jesus. This is how Jesus operated. He didn’t fall for the orphan mentality of working to prove who He was; Jesus knew who He was, and He worked out of His intimacy with the Father. As disciples of Christ we’re learning to walk in His footsteps. Grace to you.