Becoming Mature
This year I get to have a special chapel time for the middle school students of our academy. It is great to try to get to know them and to share the Word of God on their level. We are going through James, and I have just laid the foundation by talking about trials.
Today, I had them give me a trial that they were having in their lives or in the lives of their friends. They gave me a good example, and I tried to let the Lord help me to explain how we can grow through our trials, instead of being defeated by them. The bottom line is that the Bible says that our maturity comes through accepting our trials with joy and learning from them. We all need to learn this lesson, but I think it is especially important for students. They need to focus on becoming mature. It is not the "cool" thing to do, but it is God's will for all of us, and the more we cooperate with the Lord, the better the process of maturing will be for us.
How many people do you know who hate pain, and it just makes them mad when they suffer? What happens? They miss out on learning from the trial. However, if a person listens to the Lord, God will show that person how to learn from the pain. He might teach them patience, or He might lead them to be more compassionate to people who suffer. There is always something to learn that will help us become more like Jesus. I pray that we all have that as our goal. That is complete maturity.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 119:89-176 and I Corinthians 8.
Today, I had them give me a trial that they were having in their lives or in the lives of their friends. They gave me a good example, and I tried to let the Lord help me to explain how we can grow through our trials, instead of being defeated by them. The bottom line is that the Bible says that our maturity comes through accepting our trials with joy and learning from them. We all need to learn this lesson, but I think it is especially important for students. They need to focus on becoming mature. It is not the "cool" thing to do, but it is God's will for all of us, and the more we cooperate with the Lord, the better the process of maturing will be for us.
How many people do you know who hate pain, and it just makes them mad when they suffer? What happens? They miss out on learning from the trial. However, if a person listens to the Lord, God will show that person how to learn from the pain. He might teach them patience, or He might lead them to be more compassionate to people who suffer. There is always something to learn that will help us become more like Jesus. I pray that we all have that as our goal. That is complete maturity.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 119:89-176 and I Corinthians 8.