The NIV translation of this verse reads, “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Practice, persistence and perseverance are strong recurring themes in the Kingdom of God. The word perfect in this context means “complete”. Completeness implies a journey and a process. It also implies that believers can live defeated lives when remaining immature. As believers, we are expected to depend on the Holy Spirit, as our teacher, to enlighten the truth of God’s Word to us. That truth we consistently welcome into our lives produces the spiritual force of faith inside us. When faith begins to attach to our thoughts and is carried out on our words, it begins to change our lives from the inside out. Patience or perseverance, is what undergirds that faith and causes us to remain true to the process of transformation – by never allowing us to entertain even the idea of quitting. Regardless of outward circumstances or disappointments along the way, when we hold fast to the path of truth and faith – we will “be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”.