My Father’s Business
What’s the worth of your life? Often men feel that they’re not worth much… For all have sinned and come short of the glory of the Lord. However, when we feel our worst, the value God places on our lives is the worth of the priceless payment made by his son on our behalf. For he who knew no sin was made the perfect sin sacrifice in our stead that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him.
When we can’t see God’s plan, we can still trust his heart. We don’t know the path that he’s prepared for us… but he does. The just shall live by faith. He is our sufficiency. Our father has in store for us greater things than we can know in this life. God reveals his plan for our lives one step at a time. We need to reflect from this point in time to look back and see His hand of blessing over the days and months and years. As David said, “I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High…I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember the wonders of old.”
Luke 2:41-52 recounts the story of Jesus at the temple at Jerusalem when he was twelve years old. Mary and Joseph took their son to Jerusalem for the celebration of the feast of the Passover. From Nazareth this would have been a three day journey. The women went before the men in the caravan to Jerusalem. When they were returning home, Mary and Joseph realized that Jesus was not in the caravan. This is like the story of Joshua who watched Moses perform his duties in the tabernacle. When Moses left the tabernacle, Joshua “tarried in the presence of the Lord.” Jesus wanted to spend time in the temple in the presence of God. When Mary and Joseph realized that Jesus wasn’t in their party they went back to look for him. Like many people in today’s culture, many have turned back to look for Jesus. Does the church shape the culture, or does the culture shape the church? When the culture shapes the church, the church will be compromised by the doctrines of the world.
Mary and Joseph finally found Jesus after three days. Jesus was sitting in the presence of the scholars of the temple. He was listening to them and asking questions. All were amazed at the deep questions Jesus asked… He was hungry for a deeper understanding of the scriptures and the things of God. When his parents finally found him, his mother said to him, “why have you treated us like this?”
Asking the right questions reveals the heart of a man. Where will you go after you die? Who is Lord of your life? Have you been born again of the spirit of God? How do you know you’ll go to heaven? Until you know that you know that you know, your life will be based on guilt and shame. There is none good enough in the flesh… No not one. God has given us his word so that we will “know that we have eternal life.” The third beatitude says blessed are the meek. The meek are those who are teachable. The forth beatitude says blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. When God reveals himself, we’re like little children in his presence…all things have become new with the childlike faith of pure believing. Unless you become as a little child, you cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus’ response to Mary was, “know ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” These were the first words recorded that Jesus spoke. Mary and Joseph understood the carpentry business. However, his earthly parent’s did not understand Jesus’ heavenly Father’s business. God has called each of his children as his sons and daughters to their father’s business. The father’s business is that we would be his epistles written not with ink but with the spirit of the living God, known and read of all men. We who are called of God understand his calling one step at a time as we walk in fellowship with him. To understand is to grasp the meaning of something. As we answer his call to follow in the Lord’s footsteps he will open the eyes of our understanding about the function and the purpose for which we were created.
Prior to this passage in Luke, Mary had taken the things about the birth of Jesus and “pondered them in her heart.” Understanding that I must be about my father’s business is both a “flash of insight” and a lifelong revelation as we meditate upon his word, ponder these things in our hearts, and walk with him one step at a time. We must approach our father with a childlike meekness and humility. When confronted with the confusion of the world, what would Jesus do? Like Jesus, we must be about our father’s business. We have been called to exhort one another in love, to comfort those in need, and to build up and edify one another in the household of faith.
May God richly bless you,
Your brother in Christ
Michael