Question description

Luke 3:23 tells the age at which Jesus Christ started His ministry. And even though Jesus knew from His youth what His mission on earth would be, this 'son of Joseph' patiently persevered as an obscure carpenter in Nazareth until age thirty, carrying the Almighty Father's Spirit within Himself. He was never in a rush to accomplish His ambitious God-given task.

In our current time, where families encourage their children to be more ambitious and work towards their vision each day; in a world where businesses clamor for processes to speed up their operational activities; in an era where everyone is running after making it in life and achieving milestones faster than the normal steps, how can Jesus' patience be adopted as a divine model and guide while we strive to reach our goals in life?

Answer description

Though Scripture does not tell us much specifically about Jesus' childhood and young adult life, there are many things we can infer that relate to answering your question.

He most likely went to a Jewish school, as did all children in that society. He must have had some responsibility for caring for His younger siblings. At age twelve He was responsible enough to care for himself for three days as his parents lost track of him in Jerusalem. He was filled with wisdom as He respectfully took instruction from the teacher in the temple during this time. He trained to work beside his father as a carpenter. I have heard it speculated that he could have been the greatest carpenter of all time because he could not make an error. All these life experiences must have molded him for the work he was later called to do. But most significantly, he was doing the Father's will during those formative years. We know this because (Matthew 3:17) tells us that at Jesus' baptism, the Father declares, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased". The Father would not have made such a statement had the Son not been completely obedient to divine purpose.

I believe all those scenarios you describe in your second paragraph are merely outside influences. They draw our eyes away from what is important and that is Jesus. We can see from what I just related, that Jesus' focus was doing His Father's will. Why should our focus be any different? Jesus' parents taught Him to be humble, respectable, responsible, and hard-working. And as we can see, God the Father was "well pleased" with this. So I don't sense that Jesus was so patient as He was being totally sensitive and obedient to His heavenly Father's leading. God planned that His Son not begin His public ministry until He was completely prepared. Scripture does not indicate that Jesus was impatient on this journey. Instead, He was happy and blessed that He was doing the Father's will. So this all should be instruction for us.

Trying to create blessings on our timetable and by our means can only lead to unrest and dissatisfaction. God will prepare the way that will be the very best for each of His children. (Proverbs 3:5-6) promises this. And a straight path" at the end of verse six, means we will be seeing God's most blessed way before us.

So, in closing, I sense the events of Jesus' life are pointing us more toward trust than they are patience. Don't fall into the traps of life created by society's expectations. Keep your eyes on the one true goal, Jesus. And the result will be preparation for life.

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