The true follower of Jesus has a commitment to the truth of God.

If there is no commitment to God’s Word, then there are serious concerns surrounding the faith of the believer. Jesus told the Pharisees “and you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom He has sent.” (Jn. 5:38-39) Elsewhere, He says “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (Jn. 8:31-32)

And then later Jesus prayed to His Father in the garden, “Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.” (Jn. 17:17)

The follower of Jesus has died to self and has abandoned selfish and worldly purposes, influences, and motivations. And those have been replaced by the foundational powerful and active truth of the Bible.

Now the Bible also says that believers, upon being saved, are to grow and strive for maturity. The Apostle Paul writes “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” (Col. 1:28)  And the Apostle Peter writes “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” (2 Pet. 3:18)

And we know that God is pleased, honored, and glorified when His redeemed people know Him and understand Him accurately from His word (see Jeremiah 9:23-24, my favorite passage in Scripture).  Therefore, we must know in order to grow.

So we conclude and resolve that as true followers of our King Jesus we commit ourselves fully to growing in our knowledge and understanding of God’s truth so that we may grow up to maturity and further glorify our God and Savior Jesus Christ who suffered and died under the judgement of God in our place for our sins.

So that as Paul wrote to Titus we would have a  “knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness.” (Titus 1:11)