Lost in Transition
Our world has been thrown into a sudden, and unexpected, time of turmoil. Like many churches, Potter’s House Wandsworth has made a rapid transition to providing all of our services online. Individually, our own lives are also going through an uncertain time – many of us are separated from our friends and family, our working patterns have changed and our daily activities are far more restricted than before. During this season of change, we need to keep our focus on God, the one true constant in our lives.
Changing Times
All of us have been through periods of change. We may have moved into adulthood, moved home, started a new job, got married or perhaps lost a close family member. During these significant stages in our lives, we often lose focus on what is important to us as we prioritise our time and energy on our changing, and often challenging circumstances. We can get distracted easily, we may lose things that were important to us as our thoughts become centred on dealing with the effects of change.
Jesus Relationship with God
In our main text, Luke 2:41-52, we follow Mary and Joseph as they travel to Jerusalem to attend the Feast of Passover. After the feast, a 12 year old Jesus decides to stay behind and his parents only realise he is not with them much later on the journey home. Mary and Joseph were so focused on their long and arduous journey, they lost their own son during this transition! When they find him three days later in the temple, Jesus’s reaction is one of surprise.
Jesus had not lost sight of what was most important to him – his relationship with God the Father. Despite facing some very significant transitions in his life, including coming to earth as man and dying on the cross in exchange for our sins, Jesus never loses sight of what God sent him here to do, to carry out the will of God [John 6:38].
In this time of change, like Jesus, we must also maintain a focus on our own relationship with God.
Change Presents an Opportunity
For our church, streaming services means we are able to deliver the Word of God to people around the world more easily. We’re already receiving great testimonies of people coming to know God through our shared sermons. We thank God for these and all He is doing in helping us to share His good news.
Individually, we may have more time on our hands than we had a few weeks ago. Let us spend this time praising God, remembering all the good things He has done in our lives, continuing to read our bibles so we can know Him more, and being in God’s presence in prayer. Furthermore, we should be reaching-out to those in our households, sharing God’s love and words with people around us - virtually of course!
Our Relationship with God
All of our lives at this time may be very different than they were just a couple of weeks ago. We may not be able to come to our church building, sing praise and worship songs together, or hold prayer meetings. These routines are important to us but without a relationship with God are simply dead religion. Jesus life shows us that what strengthens Him the most in times of transition is His focus on a relationship with God the Father. What God truly desires is for us all to have a relationship with Him. We can all do that all day, every day, wherever we are.
In our main text today, Mary and Joseph sought Jesus anxiously until they found Him at the temple. The bible teaches us in 1 Corinthians 3:16 that we are the temple! If we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, God is alive within us and we are filled with His spirit. We have no reason to be anxious.
During this season, God our Father remains our one true constant. His love for us has never, and will never, change. God will not lose us at times of transition in our lives and we must not
lose Him.
Spend time with God
Trust in God, use this time fruitfully to deepen your own relationship with Him and linger in His presence so you may be strengthened by His love. In this time transition, God is doing great things in the lives of those around us and, when this period draws to a close, as it shall, we can each have a stronger relationship with God and a deeper understanding of who He is if we use this time well and keep our focus on Him.
Stay safe, stay connected with one another and via your Connect Groups and by His grace, we see you all soon.
May God Bless each and every one of you in Jesus mighty name.