Let it finish its work
Maturity completed
James gives perseverance a job to finish: let perseverance have its full effect, that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. He pictures endurance as a process that needs to be allowed to run all the way to its conclusion, not interrupted partway. And the goal of the process is breathtaking: a person mature and complete, lacking nothing — a fully formed character, with no part left underdeveloped.
The danger James warns against is cutting the process short. We are tempted to escape our trials and difficulties as quickly as possible, to bail out of the hard situations that are forming us before they have done their full work. But perseverance only completes its formation if we let it run its course. To short-circuit the trial is to short-circuit the maturity it was producing.
This requires patience with the slow, full work of God in us. Maturity is not instant; it is the result of perseverance allowed to finish, of staying in the forming process rather than fleeing it. The promise — mature and complete, lacking nothing — is worth the staying. So when you are tempted to escape a difficulty that is forming you, consider what would be lost if you cut the process short, and let perseverance finish the work it has begun in you.
“Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
— James, to the scattered church — James 1:4 (WEB)
Let perseverance finish its full work in you — staying in the forming process rather than escaping the trial before it has matured you.
“And perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.”
When a forming trial drags on, the urge to bolt feels like simple self-preservation — and bailing early quietly forfeits the very maturity the hardship was producing. The interior work is to let endurance run to its end rather than cutting it short: to ask, before we flee, what completeness would be lost, and to stay inside the slow work of God until it has finished what it began. The exit is always there; the maturity is only on the far side of staying.
This week, where you are itching to escape a difficulty that is forming you, resist the urge to bail out prematurely: ask what maturity would be lost, and let perseverance finish its work, staying in the process rather than fleeing it.
Comfort urges escape at the first ache, promising relief while robbing you of the character the trial was forging. But a soul that lets perseverance finish its work emerges mature and complete, lacking nothing — whole in a way the early exit could never have left it.
We are forever tempted to escape our trials as fast as possible — to bail out of the hard situations that are forming us before they have done their full work. James warns precisely against this: let perseverance have its full effect. Endurance is a process that must be allowed to run all the way to its conclusion, and to cut it short is to forfeit the maturity it was producing.
The goal is worth the staying: a person mature and complete, lacking nothing — a fully formed character with no part left underdeveloped. But this requires patience with the slow, full work of God, and a willingness to remain in the forming process rather than flee it the moment it grows uncomfortable. When you are itching to escape a difficulty that is forming you, ask what maturity would be lost if you cut the process short, and let perseverance finish the work it has begun.
- Do I bail out of forming trials before they finish their work?
- What maturity might I forfeit by cutting the process short?
- Where do I need to let perseverance finish what it has begun?
Lord, I rush to escape the trials that are forming me before they finish their work. Teach me to let perseverance have its full effect. Give me patience with your slow work, and bring me to maturity, complete and lacking nothing. Amen.