The Father’s Business - One Year Devotions for Women

“But why did you need to search?” he asked. “You should have known that I would be in my Father’s house.” - Luke 2:49

I cannot help but wonder what Jesus was like as a child. Yet Scripture closes the curtains firmly on us, having allowed only a few people to witness the little boy’s growth from babyhood.

When Jesus was around six, he would have started school. For five years, along with his friends from the village, he would have memorized the Pentateuch—the first five books of the Bible. Then, at age twelve, he was presented to the learned scholars in the temple at Jerusalem and tested with questions arising from his training. Needless to say, he passed with flying colors!

Then Jesus’ parents lost track of him in the big city of Jerusalem! When his parents asked him why he had treated them this way, he answered, “You should have known that I would be in my Father’s house” (Luke 2:49).

This was the God-man coming of age and telling his world that first and foremost he must be about his Father’s heavenly business. Although he loved his parents dearly, there was a relationship that superseded even the most important earthly tie. This is what I must be about, he was saying.

Can we honestly say our relationship with God and doing his business come first, that our Father’s interests supersede our own interests?

What are the musts in our life? Does God truly come first in our decisions, plans, goals, and daily walk? Jesus put his Father’s business first, and we should do no less.

For Further Study: Luke 2:39-52

Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.

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