About Our Father’s Business

And when they [Joseph and Mary] saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, Child, why have You treated us like this? Here Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You [distressed and tormented].
And He said to them, How is it that you had to look for Me? Did you not see and know that it is necessary [as a duty] for Me to be in My Father's house and [occupied] about My Father's business?

What is our business? And whose business is it really? Are we not children of a great God who is persistently shaping our lives so that we can follow him in his business? Are we not apprentices as the disciples of a great rabbi, as the followers of the Son of God? And what kind of life and life decisions does that call us to?

Jesus understood his place on the earthly realm as a growing boy of 12. He was positioned between a set of earthly parents, who had clear concern for the protection and guidance of this young boy, and a heavenly father whose work and business he was on earth to serve.

Do we understand our place on earth?

When we look at our priorities where do we see our Father’s business? Is it what takes hold of us and captures our focus? Do we consider that it is more important than other work we do?

Of course, some could take this as a call to be zealots and to forsake other work to only do the Lord’s work. And perhaps that is what God is indeed calling you to do. Vocational ministry may be the call on your life. Or perhaps it is the life of a missionary that God wants for you. But before you consider that those may be the only two alternatives for a life that loves Christ, consider that every day you will be faced with choices that are less life altering than whether or not to go into full-time ministry. Do I watch this television program or do I read God’s Word? Do I read the newspaper or do I spend quiet time with God? Do I handle emails or do I begin my day reading and journaling?

We can fool ourselves that being about our Father’s business is handling the work of the church. It is not.

Being about our Father’s business is being close to our Father, and then feeding his sheep. If we love him, we will desire to spend as much time as possible in his presence so we can learn from him. If we love him, we will strive to be like his Son. If we love him, we will feed his sheep. The calendars and schedules and messages and directions and papers and emails and voice messages and busyness of the “work” will all be dust. But the life we are living and the lives we intersect will be eternal. Let us be about our Father’s business.

If we are to be about our Father’s business and to be caring and close disciples of the Son, the evidence of our endeavors must be evident in our lives. Jesus demonstrated the way in verse 52 of Luke 2 where Dr. Luke records that, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

That would be our model.