John 13:34-35 English Standard Version (ESV) A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

I left you yesterday with the thought than commands will come as we grow in Christ. Here is the first one. As babes in Christ we were in the nursery, safe and secure with little if any contact with other babes. As we grow in Christ we will find ourselves in the playground of the Lord. This is where we learn to interact with other growing Christians. None are mature but they have grown enough to be told to get along with one another.

How can you learn to love the lost if you cannot learn to love your brothers and sisters in Christ?

One of our failures in loving one another is in our effort to use worldly standards. We judge people as being worthy of our friendship and affection. Jesus said don’t judge. Jesus said love your enemies. This is in direct contrast in how we choose friends. We are in the family of God now and these people in the playground of the Lord are family.

Family dynamics are complicated. We don’t get to choose our siblings. The larger the family the harder it is to find our place in the hierarchy. Being in the family of God is not supposed to be competitive but that is where we came from in the world. Treating our brothers and sisters in Christ like we were a worldly family doesn’t work. We don’t have to scratch and claw our way for attention, position or freedom.

Family freedom is granted to those who have matured enough to behave themselves.

Matthew 4:1-3 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Temptation of Jesus

¹ Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

When I left you yesterday I asked, does knowing what God might ask of you hinder growth?

In some ways it is not fair to compare our lives with Jesus. He was sinless at the time of His baptism. We cannot say the same but there is one good comparison and that is Satan’s method.

Jesus was hungry. This is a common human phenomenon. We all get hungry but for what? Fleshly appetites are not restricted to just food. Because we have sinned before accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, we have tasted of sin and found pleasure. Satan will come at us when we are at our weakest. No one attacks a strong fortress.

The second sign of Satan’s attack is the challenge of identity. “So you think you are a child of God.” The accusation is enough to make us think about this moment of weakness and cast doubt. Satan will tell you that being tempted is a sin. It is not.

2 Corinthians 10:5 English Standard Version (ESV) We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

These are the actions of a mature Christian and babes in Christ are not there yet. Until we mature to this point Satan will continue to attack us with the accusations of failure. Babes in Christ cannot fail Christ. He has not asked anything of them but to feed and grow.

Grow we do and then comes the asking.