Lost?

And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?”  Luke 2:49

I’m the youngest of four children and have two older brothers.  When I was a kid, I always wanted to be around my brothers.  For better or worse, no matter what my brothers were up to, I followed them everywhere they went.

When I was five years old my family moved to a new city and a new house.  On moving day we arrived at our new house and there were people everywhere!  Volunteers from the church flooded our new property to help the new pastor and his family move in.  What a blessing!  However, in all the commotion my brothers were able to get away with some people from the church that lived just down the street.  I missed out but asked my mom where they went.  So, when she told me I decided to walk down the street to find them. 

I had a nice walk going up and down our road looking for my brothers or their bikes, I just couldn’t find them.  I had gone the wrong direction down the street!  Meanwhile, as time went by my parents realized I was missing.  They frantically scoured our new house and property and truly started to panic.  A few minutes later I came meandering back onto the property much to my parent’s relief.  They made such a big deal about my return and talked about me being lost.  I wasn’t lost; I was just looking for my brothers.  I HAD to be with them.

In Luke chapter 2, Jesus’ parents lost their son.  We don’t know all the details but we do know that they searched for him for three days.  Scary!  My parents thought I was lost for 15 minutes and they were freaking out.  Could you imagine being Mary and Joseph in this situation? 

When they finally found Jesus in the temple, he had one curious response.  “Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house?”  I MUST be in my father’s house!  Jesus had such a great desire to be in his heavenly father’s house.  He wasn’t lost.  He just had to be there. 

What would it look like if we had the same desire to be with God our father in His house?  Are you lost in the distractions of this life and world?  Take time to be with God the father this week, and get to His house soon.

See you Sunday?  Or next Wednesday?

-Pastor Tom