Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?

Luke 2

⁴¹ Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. ⁴² And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast; ⁴³ and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it, ⁴⁴ but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. ⁴⁵ When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him. ⁴⁶ Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. ⁴⁸ When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.” ⁴⁹ And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them. ⁵¹ And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

The Bible doesn't tell us much about Jesus childhood. This account from Luke which follow after the account of His birth is one of the few scriptural references we have to Jesus as a child. For many people there is a similar gap in their spiritual life. There is a tendency to know the time and the circumstances of when we were drawn to and accepted the work of Christ's redemption into our lives. We also know by faith what will be the outcome, our eternal destiny with God in heaven. Yet all too often there is not much shared about our spiritual maturing, our growing up in Christ.

What impressed me from today's text was that as a boy or a young man, at the age of twelve, there was a yearning in Jesus to be near the Father. Within each of us there is a similar yearning. Jesus says in John 6:44 " ...No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him..."  God is the one who seeks, the one who draws us. People who are looking for spiritual answers for their lives are sometimes referred to as seekers by the church. The truth is God is the seeker. Just as He sought out Adam and Eve after they sinned and hid in the garden, God seeks us out, both to bring salvation and spiritual maturity.

Throughout history, both in scripture and more recent history, the people who have been used by God to accomplish great things for Him, were those who responded to God's drawing in their life. Jesus was the only one who ever responded perfectly, never wavering from the Father's will. Every other great man, woman or child of God needed to be continually drawn and refocused. We are the same, God has drawn and is drawing us to Him. 

I pray for you and for myself, that whether we are in a season where we need to be drawn again into a closer relationship with the God who is seeking us, or we are right in the center of God's will and His plan, daily responding to the call and will of God for our lives. I pray that the drawing will increase and our response will be to continue to grow and walk in God's will, that it will be said of us as it was of Jesus, that we " kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." God did not draw us only for salvation and eternity. He has a plan and a purpose for each and every life which He redeems and restores. I pray that you will be blessed and used mightily this day, great men, women and children of God.