James 1:2-12HOW WE TRAIN TO LAST
- The goal of maturity is to become perfect and complete, lacking nothing. The pathway to maturity comes through testing that produces endurance, then allowing this endurance to have a full effect. The terrain in which maturity is built through is facing trials and figuring out how to maintain and count it all joy. Maturity is embracing this cycle for its beauty and not its cost.
- We must embrace God’s tests as much as God’s gifts, and personal doubts as well as our personal beliefs in order to fully understand the person we have been created to become. Your walk with Jesus will directly address the whole of you as a person, and will be longer than you think, and cost more than you believe you can pay. When we seek first the kingdom and righteousness it’s not just that ‘all things’ are added, rather we find out that the ‘all things’ we sought at the start don’t even come close to knowing him.
- God’s homework is heart work. We endure from love, for love and by love. The crown of life is not just for someone who endures, rather it comes from the love we have for the one we endured for. We don't endure for blessings, we endure to get closer to the blesser, and trust that he handles when, where, and how to give us the crown. Perseverance without HIS approval is completely pointless.
