"Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and
complete, not lacking anything." James 1:3-4
I will turn 59 in February, and I find myself in what I have come to think of as the glory sunset season of my life (I just finished a book called "THE SUNSET SEASON" aging with joy, grace, and purpose. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is 50 or older). I am not winding down; if anything, I am more energized and more focused on Kingdom purpose than I have ever been. At the same time, there is a real sense of settledness, perspective, and depth that comes with 25 years of walking with Jesus through the full spectrum of life, the victories and the failures, the mountaintops and the valleys, the seasons of abundance and the seasons of pruning. What I have discovered is that none of those experiences are wasted. Every single one of them is part of the process of becoming who God has called us to be. This is maturing. And spiritual maturity, I am convinced, is one of the greatest gifts available to a follower of Christ who is willing to stay the course and remain in Christ throughout the journey.
Over the past several weeks, I have been building on the theme of inside-out Kingdom leadership, Integrity, Humility, Authenticity, Excellence, Influence, and most recently, Discipleship. As I reflect on recent "Word of the Week" messages, I realize that every one of those qualities is ultimately a marker of spiritual maturity. You cannot sustain integrity without it. You cannot maintain genuine humility without it. You cannot effectively disciple others without it. Maturity in Christ is not the destination of the series; it is the soil from which everything else grows.
Three Principles of Spiritual Maturity
Maturity Is a Process, Not an Event: One of the most important things I have learned about spiritual maturity is that it cannot be rushed, manufactured, or downloaded. It is formed over time through experience, trial, and a sustained willingness to keep showing up before God every day with open hands and an open heart, letting Him do His work in us. Paul understood this deeply. In Philippians 3, he wrote that he had not yet arrived, but he pressed on, forgetting what was behind and straining toward what was ahead. Even the most spiritually mature leader in the New Testament understood that maturity was an ongoing pursuit, not a complete achievement. We live in a culture that celebrates rapid growth. In business, we are conditioned to equate speed with success. But spiritual maturity does not work that way. Many people and organizations grow rapidly without ever maturing, and that immaturity eventually catches up with them. The foundation was never strong enough to sustain what was built on top of it. True maturity requires time, testing, and the kind of seasoned character that only comes from walking faithfully with God through every season of life, both the joyful times and the painful pruning seasons alike. "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance character and character hope" (Romans 5:3-4).
Maturity Requires Dying to Self: Here is perhaps the most counterintuitive and most essential truth about spiritual maturity: it always involves dying. Not a one-time death but an ongoing daily process of letting go of our own agenda, our own comfort, our own need for recognition and control, so that Christ can produce in us and through us something far greater than we could manufacture on our own. Jesus captured this perfectly in one of the most profound agricultural images in all of Scripture. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. That is the paradox of Kingdom growth. The seed that refuses to die stays a seed. The seed that surrenders to the process of dying becomes a harvest. I have experienced this in very personal ways over the past 25 years, and I am experiencing it more in this season of life than ever before. There have been seasons where God asked me to release things I had built, relinquish control I was gripping too tightly, and surrender plans I had made that were good but not God's best. Every one of those dying seasons felt like a loss in the moment. Every single one produced more fruit than I could have imagined. That is the promise and the process of maturity in Christ. "Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds" (John 12:24).
Maturity Produces Fruit That Multiplies: The ultimate evidence of spiritual maturity is not how much we know or how long we have been following Jesus. It is the fruit our lives are producing and whether that fruit is multiplying in the lives of others. A mature believer is not just growing personally; they are reproducing. They are pouring what God has done in them into others and watching it multiply for generations. This is exactly what I am witnessing in every area of my life this season. Within my family, with 8 grandchildren and soon-to-be 9 growing in the faith under the leadership of my daughters and their spouses. Within our business, Founders Advisors, which is flourishing under next-generation leadership. Within many areas of ministry that I am involved in, including Heritage Forum with H2 Beginnings, Church of the Highlands under Pastor Mark's leadership, and Highlands College, where we are investing forward into eternity through the next generation of young Kingdom leaders. That is maturity at work. That is the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died, producing a harvest that multiplies beyond anything a single seed could ever accomplish on its own. A spiritually mature leader is also recognizable by their character under pressure, the restraint they show in conflict, the humility they carry in success, the gratitude that marks their daily life, and the security they possess in their identity in Christ. These are not personality traits. They are the fruit of a sustained and surrendered walk with God over time. "Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them" (Matthew 7:20).
Spiritual maturity is the goal of everything we have been building in this series. It is what integrity, humility, authenticity, excellence, and discipleship are all pointing toward. And it is available to every one of us who is willing to stay the course, to keep pressing on, keep surrendering, and keep trusting that the God who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it. This is our greatest challenge and opportunity in life to "become mature and complete in Christ and not lacking anything!"
Challenge Question: Where in your life right now is God inviting you to go deeper in your maturity, to die to something you have been holding onto so He can produce something greater through you? Are you pressing toward the fullness of what He has for you, or have you settled into a comfortable plateau?
Prayer: Father, thank You for the gift of the maturity process, even when it is painful. Thank You for the trials that produce perseverance and the perseverance that builds character. Help us to embrace the dying/pruning seasons as the pathway to greater fruitfulness and to trust that Your work in us is always moving toward something more beautiful than we can see from where we stand. May we press on toward maturity in Christ and, in doing so, become leaders who reproduce Your character in the lives of everyone we influence. In Jesus name, Amen.
Maturity is not measured by how long you have been following Jesus. It is measured by how much of yourself you have been willing to surrender to Him along the way. Press on toward the fullness of what He has for you.
Have a great week!