Imagine Dr. Luke sitting down to interview Mary about her son, Jesus. Of all the key witnesses he’d interviewed, his conversation with Mary must have been the most precious. She may have said, “Let me tell you when I first realized that He knew exactly who He was. He was 12 years old, just a boy, and we accidentally lost Jesus. We left him behind for 3 whole days in Jerusalem.”

 

When Mary and Joseph finally found him, Jesus responded, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” With these words Jesus is showing us His belonging, believing, beholding, and becoming.

 

Belonging – Jesus is running to His home

 

Believing – Jesus is seeking out His refuge

 

Beholding – Jesus is embracing His delight

 

Becoming – Jesus is defaulting to His habits

 

Takeaways:

  • When I’m lost, where do I run for home?
  • When I’m scared, where’s my safe space?
  • When I’m at leisure, where do I seek joy?
  • When I’m pressured, what are my default habits?

 

Under pressure, we default not to our instincts, but to our habits. Jesus’ spiritual muscle memory sent him running to His Father.

 

What would it look like to build the kind of spiritual muscle memory, those spiritual habits, that will serve us well the next time the pressure mounts and crises hits? Remember, the only way you and I get to run to God as our Father is because of Jesus. Jesus isn’t just our example to follow, He’s our Savior who makes us children of God.