What It Means to Truly Grow Spiritually

Growth is natural for every living thing. Babies become toddlers, who become children, who one day become adults. They move from total dependence to independence. But spiritual growth takes the opposite journey.

We don’t start our Christian lives clinging to God. We start in rebellion believing we can live without Him. Spiritual maturity is learning to lay aside that false independence and embrace complete dependence on God.

But what does spiritual growth actually look like? Is it more church attendance? More Bible knowledge? More religious activity?

The answer is simpler and deeper than we often realize.

1. You’re Growing in Your Knowledge of God

Love leads to knowledge. We pursue what we love. That’s true of relationships and it’s true of our walk with Christ. You can’t say you love Jesus but show no interest in knowing Him better.

Spiritual growth starts with growing in the knowledge of God. Not just facts about Him, but a personal, relational understanding of who He is and what He’s done for you.

“Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord.” Hosea 6:3

2. You’re Moving Beyond the Basics

Like a baby who transitions from milk to solid food, Christians are called to grow into deeper theology. Hebrews 5 rebukes believers for still needing spiritual milk when they should be teaching others.

A spiritually growing person hungers for more not just devotionals and inspirational quotes, but the rich truths of Scripture that anchor the soul.

3. You’re Learning to Feed Yourself

While it’s important to sit under sound teaching in a church, spiritual maturity also means learning how to feed yourself. You open the Bible for yourself. You pray without prompting. You seek God throughout your week not just on Sundays.

If you’ve been a believer for more than a year and still rely exclusively on others to grow your faith, it’s time to mature.

4. You’re Becoming a Teacher

Not everyone is called to preach from a pulpit, but every Christian is called to teach in some form. Mature believers share what they’ve learned. They disciple others. They pass on what God has shown them.

“By this time you ought to be teachers…” Hebrews 5:12

If you’ve been walking with Jesus for a while, someone in your life should be learning from you.

5. You’re Growing in Grace

Peter commands us to “grow in the grace… of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). Grace isn’t just something we receive it’s something we grow in.

Spiritually mature people don’t become more rigid, bitter, or self-righteous. They become more gracious quick to forgive, slow to anger, and rich in love, even when others don’t deserve it.

6. You’re Obeying God Out of Love

Spiritual growth leads to increasing obedience, not from guilt or pressure, but from love. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

As we mature, we want to obey God not to earn His love, but because we already have it.

7. You’re Bearing the Fruit of the Spirit

Paul outlines the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22–23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Are these things showing up in your life more than they used to? Not perfectly but increasingly? True spiritual growth will produce this kind of fruit. And not just in your eyes, but in the eyes of those around you.

“You will recognize them by their fruits.” Matthew 7:16

8. You Care Less About Preferences and More About Unity

A spiritually immature person complains when their preferences aren’t met the music’s too loud, the sermons are too long, the chairs are uncomfortable. But a spiritually mature person pursues unity above all else.

Paul says in Ephesians 4:13 that unity in the faith is a mark of spiritual fullness. Mature believers don't demand that the church revolve around their tastes. They rejoice when Christ is glorified no matter the style or format.

9. You Speak the Truth in Love

In our culture, truth is often sacrificed in the name of kindness or vice versa. But spiritual maturity holds both together. Ephesians 4:15 says we grow by “speaking the truth in love.”

Spiritually mature Christians don’t avoid hard conversations, but neither do they wield truth like a weapon. They confront with compassion, correct with humility, and always aim to restore, not to shame.

10. You’re Planted in Christian Community

Hebrews 10:25 urges believers not to neglect meeting together. God designed spiritual growth to happen in community. No one grows well in isolation.

Mature believers don’t treat church as optional. They’re rooted in a local body, involved in the lives of others, and committed to growing together.

Spiritual growth isn’t measured by how long you’ve been a Christian, how many verses you’ve memorized, or how loud you sing in worship. It’s seen in how you depend on Christ, love others, and become more like Jesus.

Like the gym, you won’t grow if you only show up once a week. Spiritual maturity requires intentionality, consistency, and a willingness to be stretched.

But the reward is worth it not just for you, but for the people around you who will see Jesus more clearly because you’re growing in Him.

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