Growing Up In God

Growing Up In God

Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything. –James 1:2-4

I’m sure you know people who have claimed to have a relationship with Jesus for many years, and yet it seems that there has never been much transformation of their character or growth in their lives. They are still “babies” when it comes to matters of faith. But then you also probably know people who seem to have gone so far with God even though they’ve known him only a short time. This causes us to wonder, What is the secret to becoming spiritually mature?

Is it based on how long we have been a Christian? I don’t think so. Is it as simple as going to church or attending a Bible study or reading books that increase our knowledge of spiritual things? Surely those things can help us grow, but are they the tools God uses to help us “grow up” in faith?

God’s method of choice to help us to grow spiritually is suffering. But suffering itself doesn’t do the job. It is how we respond to the suffering that determines if the pain will take us deeper in our walk with God. Paul said in Romans 5:3-4: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation.” Both passages have the same formula: Responding to suffering in faith builds endurance, which develops character and results in spiritual maturity.

We grow when we persevere in faith through difficulties. Just experiencing the pain will not produce growth. But growth follows when we respond to the difficulties with an attitude of endurance that says, “This will not diminish my faith or trust in God. It will only cause me to dig deeper in my faith and seek to trust him more fully.” Are you ready to go deeper with God as you grow older? Are you willing to suffer well, if that is what is required?

Lord, help me to see the difficulties in my life as opportunities to learn to persevere so that I will be strong in character and ready for anything.

DIGGING DEEPER