What is the transformation we are looking for in discipleship? How do we measure it? Is it that people can do certain spiritual disciplines or do some great works on behalf of His Kingdom? No, these don’t accurately measure true heart change. Look at what Jesus Himself says about these things:

About doing well at practicing spiritual disciplines:

• “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want. I’m not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God’s love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God? But don’t think I’m going to accuse you before my Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser. If you believed, really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me. If you won’t take seriously what he wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?” - John 5:39-47 MSG

About doing great works for His Kingdom:

• "For I desire and delight in [steadfast] loyalty [faithfulness in the covenant relationship], rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6 AMP

• “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” - Matthew 25:41-46 NIV

 The Pharisees had whole books of the Bible memorized and yet didn’t recognize Jesus nor did they follow or obey Him. Many things they did for personal gain, ignoring certain commandments and teachings from the Bible.

Scripture tells us the goal of discipleship is Christlikeness—becoming like Jesus: 

• "Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." - Ephesians 4:13 NIV

• “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” - Colossians 1:28-29  ESV

• And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." - Romans 8:28-30

• "My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you." - Galatians 4:19

• "And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." - 2 Corinthians 3:18

• "Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church." - Ephesians 4:15 NLT

• "But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead." - Philippians 3:7-14

So how do you measure growth in Christlikeness? 

One best way to tell the true nature of the character of a person is not fully in what they do, but in what they do under instantaneous reactions… before your logical brain engages. It is found in what you do in the heat of the moment.

In brain science, Character is defined as our “instantaneous” reactions to life’s circumstances. Character is revealed by how we act “instinctively” to our relational surroundings.

We start showing transformation in our character when what we say we believe is what comes out spontaneously in our reactions, before our logical brain has time to think.

Jesus naturally reacted to His surroundings with behavior that exhibited kingdom living. His character flowed from His heart. Jesus always acted like Himself in all circumstances:

• When He was criticized and attacked

• When people engulfed Him and followed Him everywhere

• When the crowds deserted Him

• When His closest friends stood by Him

• When His closest friends abandoned Him

• When He suffered the worst pain humans can suffer

• When He ministered on the cross in the midst of pain to the hurting, broken, and lost

There was always consistency in what He said, how He acted, and how he reacted.

So character formation is key in discipleship and is primarily what we go after. Ultimately, knowledge, skill and ability, good things we still need and go after, can trick us into thinking someone is truly converted and transformed. But it is character that will inform us best.