In the first chapter of his letter, James commands us in no uncertain terms to move toward maturity by weathering all of the trials we encounter. He describes this maturity with vocabulary like “perfect,” and “complete” (James 1:2-4). These terms are translated from a Greek word that means whole and mature. He explains how trials refine our faith and transform it into endurance, and then into maturity. These trials teach us to depend on God instead of the world. As we grow in our faith, we learn that God carries us through difficult situations. We begin to realize that not only is our faith being transformed into maturity, but we ourselves are acquiring a new mode of being that is marked by that maturity. Strangely, James orders us to consider those maturity generating trials as joy.
The teaching of James is in full alignment with the writer of Hebrews who tells us that we should run the race that God has set before us with endurance, and that to do that we should look toward Jesus who is the one who put faith into us to begin with, and who will also perfect that faith, and make us mature (Hebrews 12:1-2). One way that he makes us mature is by modeling that maturity for us. We should strive to emulate what he demonstrates. Notice how in that Hebrews passage that Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. It doesn’t say that he enjoyed the cross. In fact, he most certainly did not (Matthew 26:36-39, Matthew 27:46). Instead, it says that he endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. Likewise, James doesn’t command us to experience joy in our trials. Instead, he is telling us to recognize that joy can be found in the maturity that comes when the trials make us mature and complete.
So what exactly does maturity look like? Well, in part, It looks like patience, peace, kindness, goodness, love, joy, and self control. It looks like a man who endures the cross to save ungrateful, sinful, murderous, selfish, lazy, inconsiderate, profane and lost people so that they can be reconciled to his father, and celebrate with him the goodness of Heaven in the presence of the one who created all good things. It looks like a man who suffers the trials found in the flaws of those who love him, and shows them love anyway. It looks like a man who loves and stays on mission until death. It looks like Jesus.
The trials that test our faith, therefore, transform us into a mode of being that is characterized by the maturity of our Lord, our savior, and our creator. How is God maturing you?
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