HOW LONG BEFORE MISSING JESUS?
Twelve year old Jesus traveled with his family to Jerusalem for the Passover festival as they did every year. They traveled with a large entourage of friends and family from Nazareth. It was a wonderfully joyous annual holiday. Yet, after traveling a day’s journey on the way back home, they realized that Jesus wasn’t with them.
Can you imagine the frantic one day journey back to Jerusalem to look for him? Finally, on the third day (One day out, one day back, discovered on the third day), they found him in the Temple courts talking with the religious teachers.
Sometimes we get so caught up in the busyness of life that we go through a whole day or more without realizing we’re not walking with Jesus. How long must we go before missing His presence? How anxious and weary must we become before recognizing that we have been trying to handle things without Him?
Let us run back to Jesus. Let us learn to stop running ahead without looking for Him. We want to learn to follow. We want to grow in our spiritual awareness of His presence, so that we never move without Him. Let us grow in our love and awareness of Jesus, so that we never go even three seconds, much less three days, without Him.
PRAYER: Dear Father, forgive us for those days when we head out without talking to Jesus and asking for His direction. We want to always follow Him in everything. Strengthen us for today’s journey. In Jesus’ name, amen.