Have you left Jesus behind in 2018?

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Luke 2:48: ……His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.”


According to the Jewish customs, when Jesus was 12 years old Mary & Joseph brought him to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Passover.  After traveling a whole day on their return journey, Mary and Joseph realized that Jesus was not among them; neither was he with their relatives or friends. They started to panic, and worry and were overcome with grief.  They decided to travel back to Jerusalem in search of Jesus.  After three days on finding him in the temple, Mary asks Jesus, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.”

In modern day America, Mary and Joseph would have perhaps faced serious charges of negligence. As parents of a 12 year old child, they would have been responsible for the whereabouts of Jesus.  They assumed that he was with their family.  I presume that they were too busy in their own activities that they forgot to check on their son and went on their way.  However, the key thing to note is that, when they found him in the temple three days later, they blamed him for their grief.  “Why have you done this to us?” they asked. 

Does this statement sound familiar? Sometimes, I wonder how many times in our walk of life have we left Jesus behind and then blamed God as to why he was not with us.  How many times have we jumped out of line due to our own personal desires?  We started walking on our own.  We thought we could do it our way, with our strength and with our human wisdom.  We made decisions without His guidance.  We walked in our own selfish desires.   But when things go haywire and we fall into trouble, we wonder why Jesus is not helping us?   We find ourselves all alone. Friends and family have left us.  We worry, cry, panic and wonder what to do? We face emotional and physical turmoil in our lives and then as a last resort, even try prayer as a magic potion. Then we blame God and say, “God why have you left me?”

However, at this juncture the appropriate question to ask ourselves is, “Why have we left Jesus behind?”   Jesus is our shield, protector, guide, friend, comforter and our one true God.  If we leave him, we do it by our choice.  Jesus is always seeking to walk with you and me, but we deliberately make decisions and walk away from Him, in our walk of life.  So many people asked this similar question on 9/11, “Where is God?” “Why did He not prevent this disaster in New York?” What do you expect God to answer? Are we all not acting like Mary & Joseph that is, blaming Jesus for their grief?

So as we enter the New Year 2019, my question to you today is, “Have you walked away from Jesus in 2018?  Have you left him behind in 2018 or beyond? Do you really know Jesus is in your life? Instead of blaming God for our problems and sadness, come back and ask forgiveness to Jesus for your negligence of His Word and disobedience. He will forgive you instantaneously and help you with all your problems. I pray that that upcoming year 2019, Jesus will help you to find the JOY as Mary & Joseph did when they found Jesus at the temple!

PS: The image posted has no copyright infringement intended. The image was copied from http://kespres.ca/podcast/leaving-jesus-behind/ 

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