Becoming a Mature Christian 1

Luke 3:21-22, 4:1-13

Jesus was one of the crowd that was following John the Baptist. His experience of baptism and prayer gave him the confidence to see himself as “the Son, the beloved, with whom God is pleased.”  Luke 3:21-22 This striking statement of self-confidence was not without its ensuing struggle.  Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, went into the desert for 40 days of fasting and meditation.  Luke 4:1-13.  His time in the desert help him to realize what being the “Son of God” was not.  It was not the ability to overturn the laws of nature and make stones into bread.  It was not acquiescing to evil political and economic powers.  It was not believing in an arbitrary God who intervened to save some but not others.  Jesus demonstrated all these learnings about himself again at the end of the story.  His human nature succumbed to the torture of crucifixion, just like everyone else.  He refused to compromise his gospel of love and non-violence even in the face of Pilate’s power.  Even though he might have wished and prayed that God would somehow ‘save him’ from the time of trial, he knew that he had to go through it. 


Perhaps part of knowing who we are and who we are meant to be involves knowing who we are not.  What is it that might be tempting you to become someone you are not meant to be?  Have the restrictions necessitated by the pandemic tempted you or someone you know into ways of thinking and acting that are not helpful on the journey to maturity? 

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