James says that we are to let “perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything.” What he is trying to communicate is that the suffering we go through produces not only an endurance to finish the race, but also a maturity that allows us to do so with wisdom and courage. In other words, the path toward Christian maturity very often comes through our suffering.

For many Christians, maturity is about learning more facts about God or attending more church functions. While I would wholeheartedly encourage learning and participating in the local church, those things are not the ultimate end goal. The end goal is maturity. Often, God’s path toward maturity comes through trials of many kinds. In those seasons, it is not what we know but what we do with what we know, that results in us becoming more like Jesus. Trials do not necessarily make us grow in maturity. They will, however, give us an opportunity to learn to live and love like Jesus in new ways.

Ask the Lord to use the trials in your life to make you more like Jesus.