Learning about the Lord Jesus is the greatest joy for a child of God. When we prayerfully search the Bible, it reveals a lot about who the Lord is and what He does. However, the Scriptures do not reveal much about the childhood of the Lord Jesus on earth. What we do read should humble us, encourage us, and fill us with awe as we see the childhood of the eternal Son of God in the flesh so closely parallels our own childhoods.

First, Jesus had to obey His mother and earthly father. Galatians 4:4 tells us that, “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” Our Lord Jesus was born a baby like we were. But He did more than just become one of us: He came under the law. It would have been possible for the eternal Son to take to Himself our nature and be one of us without this humiliation, but to save us He had to come “under the law.” Since he had to come under the law, He followed the fifth commandment, “Honour thy father and thy mother” (Exodus 20:12).

Jesus the eternal Son, who made the worlds and knows everything, had to “obey his parents in all things” (Colossians 2:20). Have you had to stop doing something that you really wanted to keep doing because your parents asked you to stop? So did Jesus. Jesus knew what it was like to say no to playing, spending time with His friends, or spending time by Himself when His earthly mother and father needed Him to do something.

Second, He knew what it was like to work. From an early age, children have simple daily chores. As you get older, you have more complex and challenging things to do, such as helping mom and dad with work projects and helping care for younger siblings. You work hard at school and then get your first job.

Our Lord knew what it was like to work as a child. He was the oldest boy in His family and He would have helped at home. He would have done His chores, taken care of His younger siblings, and assisted Joseph in his work as a carpenter (Matthew 13:55, Mark 6:3). Working as a carpenter today is not easy work. Being a carpenter in New Testament times would have been even more difficult. There were no trucks. No trailers. No power tools. Further, in New Testament times, a carpenter did a wide variety of work. They made farm tools such as plows, yokes, carts, wheels, winnowing forks, and threshing boards, as well as house parts, doors, frames, locks, window lattices, beds, tables, lampstands, boxes, cabinets, and chests. Jesus may have even repaired boats.

He understood long hours, sore muscles, and not being able to play when work needed to be done. He understood what it was like to deal with difficult, unreasonable, cheap, and overly critical customers. He knew the priority of sacrifice and self-denial to earn a wage and please an employer.

However, the Lord Jesus loved to serve His heavenly Father. When His earthly parents questioned Him as to why He stayed behind in the Temple rather than keeping up with the rest of the family on their travel, He responded, “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49). The Lord Jesus was willing to work and work hard, and He did it in service to His Father.

Are you willing to work hard? But most importantly, are you willing to work to serve the Lord?

Third, Jesus grew. He knew what it is like to grow up. Luke 2:40 says, “and the child grew.” Just a couple verses later, Luke introduces a passage with the phrase, “And when he was twelve years old” (Luke 2:42). Twelve years of His life are jumped over in the history recorded in Luke. We are further told in Luke 2:52 that the Lord Jesus increased in “stature.” He not only got older and bigger, but He emotionally, mentally, and spiritually matured into a young man. He went through the physical and emotional changes of puberty. He became more responsible and independent. At some point, His earthly father died, and He inherited the responsibilities of the household.

Do you sometimes feel like your life is changing? Like you’re not quite a kid anymore but not an adult yet? Do you feel the weight of responsibility? You are not alone. He knew what it was like to grow up, too.

In the midst of any and every struggle, go to our Lord Jesus. Boy and girls, you can go to Him because He understands your questions and frustrations. Teenagers and young adults, you can go to Him because He understands your temptations and struggles, and will always lead you in the way you should go (Psalm 23:3, John 14:6). Even you, adults and elderly ones, can go to Him. He understands your mistakes, sins, regrets, sorrows, and pains. Regardless of your age or place in life, seek the Lord today.