Luke 2:49 “And He said to them, ‘Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?’”

Have your kids ever disappeared from your sight? I will never forget the time when our daughter, who was probably 2 or 3 at the time, vanished inside our home. We couldn’t find her anywhere. I was frantically calling her name and looking in every nook and cranny in our house. I knew she couldn’t have gotten out the door, but she was nowhere to be found. Finally, we heard her. She was hiding inside the fold of our closet bifold doors. She had become so frightened when she heard me hollering and getting more excited that she was afraid to come out.

My first thoughts as I read this familiar passage is how my parents would have responded. Man, I would have been in so much trouble. My bottom would have been warm for a week. Lol. But of course, I also wasn’t the Messiah. I would have disappeared out of disobedience, not obedience.

Jesus wasn’t lost. He was exactly where He should have been. He was far more at home in the Temple than He was with His earthly parents. We can only speculate on what kind of child He was. Scripture is noticeably silent on His childhood years. But it is apparent from this passage that He was familiar with the surroundings in which they found Him after their three day search.

Are your children at home in God’s house? Are they familiar with the surroundings? Do they know their Pastor(s)? Are they so comfortable at church that they had rather be there than anywhere? Jesus felt at peace in the Temple because of His relationship with His Father. How about your kids? Are they at peace with their heavenly Father? If not, maybe it’s time you introduce them.