One reason we as Christians can rejoice during our trials is that trials lead to the maturing of our faith (James 1:2-4). We rejoice in the midst of discomfort because we know that God is making us more like Him through our struggles. So our greatest times of growth as Christians often come when we are most uncomfortable, most challenged, or most ill at ease.
Many churches today have turned this principle on its head. They are catering their churches to people’s comforts, and they are surprised when the result is immature Christians. We cater music to people’s preferences, and we put people in groups with only those who make them comfortable, and then we are caught of guard when they seem unwilling to look to the interests of others or to consider others as better than themselves (Philippians 2:3-4).
The example of music can demonstrate how much we think of people’s comfort in the church, rather than their growth. We think that we sing the older hymns for the older people and the newer choruses for the younger people, so both groups feel comfortable as we worship. But could it be that we need to sing the older hymns for the younger people, to give them grounding in their faith, and the newer choruses for the older people, to stretch them in their faith? Like parents with their kids, the church must not be driven by giving people what they want, but we must learn to give them what they need.
For example, if you ask about the best way to get people to come to Sunday School, you might create classes with everyone alike, where people feel comfortable with others just like them. If you asked how best to disciple people, you would put people with others not like them. You would put the young newly weds with an older married couple to teach them how to stick to their marriage. You would put the rich with the poor to teach them humility. When we cater the church to people’s comforts, we get comfortable Christians. When we center the church on Scripture, we get biblical Christians.
The church in America desperately needs to hear a word from James 1:2-4. Trials and difficulties are not always to be avoided. True wisdom (James 1:5) teaches us that our struggles are for our benefit, for the maturing of our faith. Christian maturity comes through trials. Consequently, the church that seeks to remove the difficulties of being a part of the body of Christ will never yield the kind of disciples that flow from the fiery ordeals that we must all endure from time to time (1 Peter 4:12-13).
A Family of Faith 