Luke #27 – Mind HIS Business!

Luke #27 – Mind HIS Business!

Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and His mother knew not of it. But they, supposing Him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found Him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. And when they saw Him, they were amazed: and His mother said unto Him, ‘Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing.’ And He said unto them, ‘How is it that ye sought Me? Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?’ And they understood not the saying which He spake unto them” (Luke 2:41-50 – King James Version).

I have found that the four favorite subjects of most church folk are the biggest cause of problems in the church today. The first subject is nothing. Church folk spend more time talking about nothing than any other group of folks I have ever met. My pastor calls it “church chit-chat”. That is the kind of talk that people use to avoid revealing anything about themselves or avoid opening up to one another.

The second kind is worldly talk. That’s the kind of conversation that is consumed with temporal junk. Not to say a church people cannot talk about music, books, or whatever…I am simply saying that we spend too much time talking about things that won’t last. Of course, one of my favorite sayings is “whatever is in the well will come up in the bucket.”

The third kind is whining. It is MY OBSERVATION that church folk complain more than anyone I have ever known. That catches me as strange. For a people that claim that all of eternity has been handed to them and that Jesus means so much it seems strange that we have a lot to complain about.

The fourth kind is gossip. This kills me! Folk need to learn to mind their own business! Folk need to learn to speak the truth in love. More damage is done to unity in a body of church people by gossip than any other thing. Gossip is cowardly and useless. If you have something to say about somebody be sure you have had the courage to say it to them first.

There are several other subjects that I will leave off of this list, but these are the most notable. Now I believe in straight talk and I want us to receive some healing from this devotion. There is a pair of things that will cure all of this and they go hand-in-hand. They are personal holiness and Kingdom focus.

We get an example of this in Jesus today. Today’s Scripture is the famous account of the twelve year old Jesus interacting with the religious teachers in the temple. Jesus was concentrating on God’s will and it caused two things that I want to point out.

Jesus was so concentrated on God’s will and God’s business that He had no time to get caught up in anything else. Age differences didn’t matter to Jesus. He sat with His elders talking about the things of God. Suddenly it did not matter who was older and who was younger. Cultural differences didn’t make a difference to Jesus as He concentrated on God’s business. He was from Galilee, an area known to produce people of an unrefined nature. Galileans were generally not liked by Judeans, but that didn’t matter as they concentrated on God together. Education levels did not matter to Jesus as He concentrated on God’s will. I am sure those fellows that Jesus talked with had more formal education that He did. They weren’t talking about formal education; they were talking about God. I also have to think that while most boys (and grown people) were out enjoying the festivities of the Passover season that Jesus did not miss anything really important because He was focused on His Father’s business. Take a lesson from this! Concentrate on God’s business and I guarantee that we won’t get caught up in a bunch of mess.

Jesus was misunderstood because of this. His mother and Joseph did not understand what Jesus was doing, but He didn’t care. He was about His Father’s business. Do you want to get released from caring about what others think of you? Concentrate on God’s business more than your own image and you won’t care what others think of you. You will care more about what God thinks. Sure, if we do that we will be misunderstood but who cares?

I said in the beginning that “church folk” have some subjects that really goof some things up. I said that because not all “church folk” are Jesus’ folks. Christian folk aren’t perfect by any means, but we should not be defined by trifling talk; we should be defined by our likeness to Christ. His main goal and focus was God’s will. Can the same be said of us today? If we truly begin to focus primarily on the things of God it will cure gossip, worldliness, complaining, and conversations and activities that amount to nothing. Jesus did not care what people thought of Him because His image was not His primary concern, glorifying God was. Whose image are you concentrating on today; yours or God’s? How different would our lives be if we only got offended when God was offended? With love, I beg all with ears to hear to MIND HIS BUSINESS! It will do wonders for the Kingdom, your congregation and your own life.