As I go out the door to the office this morning, I will try my hardest to not forget my phone, my office keys, and my wallet. As essential as each of these seem, I still forget something sometimes at some point. And my keys? They have legs. But forget Jesus? I would not forget him!
I have a place to hang my keys by the door. But somehow, against all odds, they manage to jump off that hook and make their way to an unlikely place in the house. So now I have to search long, fast, and hard as I am trying to get out the door. Let’s get some insight into this from today’s words of encouragement.
Do Not Forget The Kid(s)
In spite of my forgetfulness, I have never forgotten a kid when it was time to get out the door. But evidently, that’s not so uncommon. Okay, so our minds are flashing now to the movie Home Alone – “Kevin!” Yes, that was over 30 years ago. Just in case you don’t know, Kevin’s family was going on vacation. A power outage, while they were sleeping, caused the alarm clock to reset to ‘flash-a-noon-a.’ They all rushed out of the door to catch their flight…and Kevin was left behind in the rush.
How does this happen, forgetting a kid? Distractions! Being late and in a rush. A last-minute distraction of a cell phone. Thinking the other adult or parent has them. Or one’s mind being consumed by a major issue.
Survey Says 6%
Evidently, someone decided to poll people about this. They found that 6% of parents have forgotten their kid before.
But what if your son is Jesus? Would you ever forget Him? You are the parents of the son of God! I don’t care if Joseph wasn’t the biological father, he was His dad. He and Mary raised him. With that in mind, you nor I would ever forget Jesus…right?
Luke 2:43 niv
After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it.
How Did That Happen
- He was taken for granted because he was such a good kid – trustworthy and reliable.
- He always did what was right, so they didn’t worry about Him not doing the right thing…staying with them. Knowing what is right to do and not doing it, that is sin. Jesus was without sin.
- As the families traveled together, the women and children usually stayed in a group together. One parent probably thought the other one was with Him.
- Or, Jesus was just with another part of the group, hanging with the other kids.
It was an honest mistake. And, there is much more to know and learn about this story. But here’s a question for here and now, today, this moment in life….where’s Waldo?
In our rushing around life, our everyday-walking-around-kind-of-life, we lose track of Jesus. We get in a rush or we get distracted. It’s almost as if He blends in like Waldo. Or better said we blend in, we look like everyone else, with the crowd, and we forget that Jesus is with us…or at least He was.
Where’s Waldo
Where did He go? Where did we lose track of Him? We got distracted. I hear often that some folks try to do their devotionals, but they just gotta check that cell phone when they hear that notification go off. “Excuse me Jesus, let me just check that real quick?” Then we lose track. We were distracted. Do you do that with your spouse or best friend? Yikes!
And even more of a challenge, when you get out in public. You get caught up in the flow of the crowd and the culture or mood of the moment, and all of a sudden you’ve lost track of Jesus. That’s when it’s easy to know what is right to do, and not do it. You gotta get refocused and find Jesus, get your eyes back on Him!
Challenge of the Week:
Don’t lose sight of Jesus. Don’t get so distracted that you lose track of your walk with Him. If you do lose track of Him, you will always find Him in His Father’s house, at His Father’s side, prompting you by Holy Spirit, “Hey look here, here I am!” So be it!
