Waiting Until It’s Time

December 28

(Luke 2:51a NIV) "Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them."

(Luke 3:23 NIV)  "Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli,"

(Philippians 2:5-11 NIV) "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: {6} Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, {7} but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. {8} And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! {9} Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, {10} that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, {11} and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

(Isaiah 40:31 ESV) “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

After His success at drawing a crowd and impressing the religious leaders at the Temple, Jesus could have probably stayed there and become the child prodigy of Judaism. He could have continued to gather a following and raked in a fortune as “The Colossal Child Prophet”. Instead, He went home with His parents and was obedient to them until His time came. Luke tells us that Jesus was twelve years old when He first taught in the Temple, but that He didn’t begin His public ministry until He was about thirty. This means He spent eighteen more years in obedience to His parents, growing spiritually, and preparing Himself to be Savior of the world. He waited until it was time. He didn’t run ahead of God, but took on the nature of a servant; first to His parents, and then to His Father in Heaven. In this new year to come, be patient, and wait upon the Lord. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day