Psalm of the Day: Psalm 22
Proverb of the Day: Proverbs 15:15-28
Scripture Reading: Luke 2:41-52
Let us draw from this passage an example for all true Christians. We have it in the solemn words which our Lord addressed to His mother Mary, when she said to Him, "Son, why have you dealt with us thus?" "Don't you know," was the reply, "that I must be about my Father's business?" A mild reproof was evidently implied in that reply. It was meant to remind His mother that He was no common person, and had come into the world to do no common work. It was a hint that she was insensibly forgetting that He had come into the world in no ordinary way, and that she could not expect Him to be ever dwelling quietly at Nazareth. It was a solemn remembrance that, as God — He had a Father in Heaven, and that this heavenly Father's work demanded His first attention.
The expression is one that ought to sink down deeply into the hearts of all Christ's people. It should supply them with a mark at which they should aim in daily life — and a test by which they should try their habits and conduct. It should quicken them — when they begin to be slothful. It should check them — when they feel inclined to go back to the world.
"Are we about our Father's business? Are we walking in the steps of Jesus Christ?" Such questions will often prove very humbling, and make us ashamed of ourselves. But such questions are eminently useful to our souls. Never is a Church in so healthy a condition — as when its believing members aim high, and strive in all things to be like Christ!
Prayer for the Day: Dear Lord, help me to know there is nothing more important than being about my Father's business.
This devotional was taken from The Gospel of Luke by J.C. Ryle published in 1858
and adapted by Pastor Tim Lewis of New England Shores Baptist Church.
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