spiritual maturity

James 1:² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

At the beginning of this new year, just like the beginning of every new year, many resolutions have been made.  Of course, many of these center on exercise and weight loss.  We have a view of ourselves that tells us that we are not yet where we want to be.  We appreciate the opportunity given us by the calendar to make major life changes.  There is another one who is resolved to help us grow into the complete person.  We see from the early verses in the book of James (above) that God will bring challenges into our lives that we would never volunteer for in order to develop us.  Of course we have different timetables for maturity.  Our timetable may be closely linked to swimsuit season.  God's timetable runs well past the end of our natural lives and into Heaven.  It seems that a major purpose for our remaining time on earth, once we have accepted His gift of salvation, is to grow to a maturity that is at home in the place we call forever.  We learn through James that many of the trials we face have an intended purpose.  That purpose is to fully form the part of us that trusts in the Lord.  We need to come to the end of ourselves so that we will turn our hearts and minds to Him for help.  These kinds of trials find the outer limits of our faith and, as we trust in Him, extend those limits.  As our dependence and trust in the Lord grows, so does our spiritual maturity.  We are in training to learn how to trust in God.  If we react the right way to trials and our faith develops then we benefit two ways: (1) we'll be better prepared for the next trial and (2) we'll ultimately be so comfortable with trusting in the Lord that we will feel totally at home in the place where we are directly in His presence.  I suspect that some of our friends have moved on from this life to the next before we would ever have let them go because their faith had reached maturity and the Lord was eager to walk with them directly.

 

blessings,

Rob Smith