""Didn't you know I had to be about My Father's business?" Luke 2:49

"And they understood not the saying which He [Jesus] spoke to them [Mary & Joseph]." Luke 2:50


You would've thought that after all that these two saw and experienced they would have understood who this 12 year old Boy was. They didn't.

We can be very encouraged by the fact that even Mary was unclear at times what was happening. Surely she must have thought about the angel who came to her. About the fact that she became pregnant without knowing a man. About all the things that transpired in those early years with her Child. She knew all these things, and yet her understanding was lacking at times.
This is how the Christian must live his, or her, life. There's a process for our hearts and minds to grow in His grace and knowledge. I did not become a new creation in Christ until I was 31-32 years old. I'm now 54, and still learning. However, the Lord has graciously taught me much in those 20 plus years.

There's no such thing as instant maturity.

It takes time to come to understand the things of God. It's a slow, but joyous, walk of faith. And gaining understanding shall never happen, if we are not listening to God; sitting at Jesus feet, as it were.

This is the most important, and essential really, discipline for the Christian; to hear God; to listen to God. And by hearing His Word, all the other disciplines in our lives spring forth, and become fruitful. Prayer, worship, fellowship, loving others, witnessing, and forgivensess, to name a few, are results of a heart being shaped by the Word of God.

"And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." Luke 2:52

MERRY CHRISTMAS!