“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” James 1:2-4 (NIV)
There’s a beautiful place that our trials will take us if we’ll have the right approach to them. The Word says that the end of a matter is better than the beginning (Ecclesiastes 7:8) and a mature believer is the end goal that James was encouraging every believer to attain to.
The only way to achieve maturity is by the testing of our faith. Oh how I wish there was another way, but we all know that --- if, what we say we believe is not tested - an inmature believer is what we remain and that‘s not God‘s plan for us. So, how is ones faith tested? The word “testing” in the NIV is “trying” in the KJV which means the proving or that by which something is tried or proved, a test.
In order for faith to be real or proven in YOU, it has to undergo a test. Let’s say you make a claim that you can outrun all your friends. I guarantee you… someone will ask you to prove it. You may expect people to simply take you at your word, but it doesn’t work that way and quite honestly - it shouldn’t. You, personally will never know if that claim can stand if you never prove it by running a race against all who oppose you. Hopefully, you’ll come out a winner, But, you’d never really know unless you proved your claim to others and to yourself.
That’s how it is with what we believe about our relationship with our God. Faith in this passage is the Greek word Pistis is the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ.
We can say we are people of faith, but this belief will be tried and tested by God until we become mature and complete in Christ, lacking nothing. How will our claims be proven true if we never welcome the tests?
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