“If you keep on obeying what I have said, you truly are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 (CEV)

If you want to be Jesus’ disciple, you have to do what he tells you to. Always.

Jesus taught, “If you keep on obeying what I have said, you truly are my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32 CEV).

In that verse, Jesus highlights a few important things about spiritual growth, or discipleship.

First, discipleship is an ongoing process. You have to “keep on obeying.” It’s going to take the rest of your life for you to grow up spiritually. You don’t listen to a sermon or take a class and suddenly reach maturity. It’s a gradual, incremental, lifelong process.

Second, one of the ways spiritual growth is measured is by obedience. Jesus said, “If you keep on obeying . . . you truly are my disciples.” Spiritual growth isn’t based on how much you know. It’s based on how much you practice—how much you obey. 

A lot of people know the Bible but don’t live it. In fact, sometimes those who have the most Bible knowledge are the most cranky, cantankerous, judgmental Christians. As the Bible says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1 CSB). Knowledge without love leads to arrogance.

The truth is that you only believe the part of the Bible that you practice—that you do every day.

Third, spiritual growth is based on God’s Word. Jesus told his followers to obey what he told them—because it’s the truth of God’s Word that will feed your soul.

And, fourth, spiritual growth sets you free. As Jesus said, “The truth will set you free.”

The more you grow spiritually, the freer you’re going to be. You’re going to be set free from the expectations of others, from past memories that bother you, from guilt, from resentment, from bad habits, from shame, from the pressures that other people try to put on you.

The people who are the most fully alive in life are those who are growing in spiritual maturity—because the truth sets you free.

It won’t happen overnight. But as you obey God more and more, you’ll find yourself becoming more like Jesus. The Message paraphrase says, “Our lives [are] gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him” (2 Corinthians 3:18).