In my father's house....

. . they found Him in the temple . . . . And He said to them, '. . . Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?' -Luke 2:46, 49

Jesus’childhood was not one of immaturity waiting to grow into manhood- His childhood is an eternal fact. He is forever and ever the Son of God—no passing of time will change that.  But am I a holy, innocent child of God as a result of my identification with my Lord and Savior? Do I look at my life as being in my Father's house—-or a better translation perhaps, am I “being about my Father’s business?”  Do you see my point?  Jesus’ relationship and focus upon doing His Father’s will was not something He did as a child and then somehow “outgrew” it.  He lived and died on this earth doing His Father’s will. And He’s still doing His Father’s will 2000 years later.

Jesus was where He should have been—in His Father’s house. That’s where He belonged then and where He is now. But does God not desire the same from me?  Am I continually in touch with  God, and do I long to be in His House—that is,  “doing His business”—or do I look for Him only when things have gone wrong- when there is some disturbance in my life?   “I must be about My Father's business”-regardless of what the other members of my family are about.  And I must learn to live every moment of my life in my Father's house.

Luke 2:49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be about my Father’s work?”  Regardless of how busy, essential, and tasked my life is, I’ve go to think about where I should be. Am I so closely identified with the Lord's life and His business that I am simply God’s child, continually talking to Him and realizing that everything comes from His hands? Is the eternal Child, Jesus,  living in me, and am I living in His Father's house?   Ask yourself the question, “Do I make my Father proud?”

Today, are you wondering why you are going through certain circumstances lately?  As you go about your work, your chores, your time off, your business, have you wondered why things are not going like you imagined or hoped?  God has ordained them, planned them or allowed them for a purpose. It’s not your job or mine to determine His business or enterprises; it’s to be faithful to our Father’s work. I must allow Him to have His way with me, staying in perfect oneness with Him, especially when it looks like His work is not accomplishing much good or a catastrophe is on the way.

Jesus asked His parents, “Why were you looking?”  It’s as if He was saying,   “Don’t you know my first love and allegiance?”  It was not meant to be rude or “talking back”, but really a question, to remind them of their priorities. I am in my Father’s house doing His business—why would I be anywhere else doing anything other?

So here’s a 12-year-old wanting to be in God’s house, doing God’s business, and think about this also: There were no snacks being served or any kind of refreshments; there was no AC, no projectors or TV monitors, no chairs, no piano or band, not even a guitar.  And no one was there telling Jesus that He should want to be there. Jesus was where He really wanted to be.   Psalms 122: 1 (ESV) “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!”  Jesus was born with an innate desire to be in His Father’s house and to be about His Father’s business. By comparison, we’re not. In fact, the enemy is doing all he can, right this second,  to keep us from thinking about our heavenly Father’s house and our Father’s work.  Not only does he attempt to throw things into our imagination to keep us from God’s house, but if we do finally come, the devil either wants what we hear to be so watered down and ineffective that we wonder, “Why did I waste my time coming here in the first place?”

Again, it’s unimaginable that Jesus would respond to His frantic mother with sarcasm, but with a reply that reveals His primary task and His purpose from the Father. As He did throughout His life, Jesus answered a question with a rhetorical question. “Why did you not look for me here—surely you knew that I could be nowhere else but here?”  This is the standard Jesus lived by His whole life. Never drawing attention to Himself, He was “about my Father’s business”—

Think about this: These are the first words recorded of Jesus…..and it set the tone for His entire life.  But it causes me to wonder: Whose business am I really about?  What about you and your career or your ambitions?

Are we living like true sons and daughters of God? Do people know where to find us? Is it unnecessary to go hunting for us? Is there a place where it is certain that we shall be? It was so with this child Jesus, and it should be so with all of us who profess to be His followers.  Do you go to church on Sundays or Wednesdays, or places to worship and praise Him because you feel that you have to….. or because it’s where you belong?  Is His work onerous and frustrating to you, or is it something you cheerfully and quite naturally do?   I wonder sometimes if my troubles, disappointments and personal anxiety are a result of me being in the wrong house and going about the wrong business.  I am to be in His House doing His business——and everything else will be added.

The enemy is very sly about this. He whispers to us that we must take care of our own personal matters first and that we must keep our attention upon our own houses. Jesus says we must not. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God (or the business of God) and everything else will follow” (Paraphrased, Matt. 6:33)

With Jesus Christ the thing He had to do was be about His Father’s business, because His whole inclination and will were submitted to the Father’s authority. And that is what will make any life sweet, calm, noble. ‘The love of Christ constrains us.’  If I am about my Father’s business and if in my heart I pant, thirst and dream of being in His House, it is impossible for me to be other than a loving, obedient child.  But is that the way it is with you and me??

Have you felt that grip on your heart?? Is it impossible for you not to be doing God’s will? Do you love to come to church, or services of worship like this,  to be a part of His work—or something else tugging at your heart right now?  Is something whispering for your attention this very moment? A video game…to go camp to your cabin….supper…to address some project you want to finish……

Let me also add that being about my Father’s business means I accept the lowliest duties.    At camp, it’s the Camp Director’s job to do the nastiest, most disgusting tasks—because he is the director.  Jesus did not live like a prince, pampered and removed from chores or mindless tasks.  And quite frankly, I don’t think God has ordained that any of us should raise children or teach campers any differently.   Jesus went back down to Nazareth and was subject to his parents. That is all that is told us about His first eighteen years, by far the largest part of the earthly life of Christ.   He was subject unto Mary and Joseph, and that was doing the Father’s will, and being ‘about the Father’s business,’ quite as much as when He was among the learned scholars

So how can we be about our heavenly Father’s business during the day?

1. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it for the Lord. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”   Colossians 3:17, NIV.  You work for God—not an employer. Do it like you were doing it for Him. What a blessed transformation that would make of all lives!

2. See Him as the One who will reward you—but limit Him or assume you know how He’s going to bless you—it’s always better than you imagined—just let go…wait… and see how He does!

The psalmist long ago said: ‘One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.’ We will live in the house of the Lord forever—so why not start today?

‘I must be about my Father’s business’; let us make that the motto for earth, and He will say to us in His own good time, ‘Come home from the field, and sit down beside Me in My house,’ and so we ‘shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.’

So, if the first thing Jesus was ever recorded as saying was, “I have to be about my Father’s business”.   And what was the last thing He ever said? “It is finished”.  What’s finished?  The work His Father gave Him.   What will be your final words one day?  It might depend upon the right words you start speaking right now—perhaps even this moment.