What Happens After You Become a Christian?
Learning to Walk with Christ When Ordinary Life Begins Again
There is something wonderfully reassuring about knowing that you belong to Jesus Christ. Perhaps you can remember the very moment you trusted Him. Maybe it happened during a church service, in a conversation with a friend, or while reading your Bible alone. Or perhaps your journey was quieter, with understanding and faith developing over time.
However you came to Christ, something important has changed.
The Bible tells us:
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
—2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)
That’s a remarkable promise. God doesn’t simply offer to make us a little better than we were before. Through Christ, He gives us a new life and a new relationship with Himself.
But then comes a question that almost every Christian eventually asks.
What do I do now?
Perhaps the excitement of your conversion is still fresh. You want to learn everything you can about God. You want to please Him, understand the Bible, and become the person He intends you to be.
Or perhaps some time has passed, and you’re discovering that being a Christian doesn’t make everyday life quite as simple as you expected.
Either way, you’re beginning a journey. And there are a few things worth understanding as you take those first steps.
Something Has Changed
When you trusted Christ, your relationship with God changed in a way that doesn’t depend upon how you happen to feel today.
Scripture says:
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”
—Romans 5:1 (KJV)
Notice that Paul doesn’t say we might eventually have peace with God if we become good enough Christians. He says we have peace with God through Jesus Christ.
That peace rests upon what Christ accomplished for us, not upon our ability to live perfectly afterward.
This is important because new Christians sometimes believe they must immediately become entirely different people in every respect. They expect old habits to disappear, difficult emotions to vanish, and every decision to become obvious.
Sometimes God does bring dramatic changes into a person’s life. But much of our growth takes place gradually.
We have entered a new relationship with God. Now we begin learning how to live within that relationship.
And learning takes time.
Ordinary Life Hasn’t Disappeared
Sooner or later, the ordinary responsibilities of life return.
There are still bills to pay, jobs to perform, relationships to maintain, and difficult decisions to make. People can still disappoint us. We can still become impatient, discouraged, or afraid.
And sometimes we discover that an old temptation hasn’t disappeared after all.
That discovery can be troubling, especially for someone who expected the Christian life to be a continuous experience of joy and spiritual victory.
But the presence of a struggle doesn’t necessarily mean that nothing changed when you came to Christ.
In fact, becoming more aware of sin may be evidence that God is beginning to change the way you see yourself and the world around you.
Things you once accepted without much thought may now trouble your conscience. Words that once seemed harmless may no longer seem appropriate. Attitudes you previously defended may become difficult to excuse.
That doesn’t mean God has abandoned you. It may mean He is teaching you to recognize what needs to change.
The Apostle Paul understood the struggle between wanting to do what is right and discovering that sinful tendencies remain. He describes that conflict in Romans 7.
It’s worth reading that chapter for yourself. You’ll discover that the Christian life involves a very real struggle, even as we learn to depend upon the grace and power of God.
And here’s something else to remember: your feelings will not always reflect the truth of your relationship with God.
There will be days when prayer seems natural and Scripture speaks powerfully to your heart. There may also be days when you feel distracted, discouraged, or spiritually dry.
God’s promises don’t change with those feelings.
We learn to trust what He has said, even when our emotions tell us something different.
Learning to Walk
There are two important truths that can help us understand what happens after salvation.
The first concerns what God has already done for us. The second concerns what He is continuing to do within us.
The Bible uses two words to describe these truths: justification and sanctification.
They may sound complicated, but the distinction is actually quite simple.
Think of a courtroom and a workshop.
In the courtroom, a verdict is rendered. When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, God declares us righteous on the basis of what Christ has accomplished. We are not accepted because we have earned His approval. We are accepted through Christ.
That’s justification.
But God doesn’t leave us standing in the courtroom.
He brings us into His workshop.
There, He begins shaping our attitudes, desires, habits, and conduct to become increasingly like Jesus.
That’s sanctification.
Unlike the verdict in the courtroom, the work in the workshop continues throughout our lives.
Some changes happen quickly. Others take years. There will be victories, setbacks, lessons learned, and occasions when we must confess our failures and begin again.
But God has not promised to abandon His work.
Paul wrote:
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
—Philippians 1:6 (KJV)
Notice whose work it is.
God began it. God continues it. And God intends to complete it.
That doesn’t mean we have nothing to do. Scripture calls us to obedience, repentance, perseverance, and faithful service.
But we aren’t working to earn a place in God’s family. We are learning to live as people who have already been welcomed into it through Christ.
A child learning to walk will stumble. Sometimes he’ll fall. But a loving father doesn’t conclude that the child no longer belongs to him.
He helps him stand and encourages him to continue.
Our heavenly Father is patient with His children as they learn to walk with Him.
Taking the Next Step
So where do you begin?
You don’t need to understand the entire Bible before you begin reading it. You don’t need to know how to pray beautifully before you begin talking to God. And you certainly don’t need to have every question answered before you start living faithfully.
Begin with what God has already placed before you.
Spend some time reading His Word. The Gospels of Matthew and Mark are good places to become better acquainted with the life and teachings of Jesus.
Talk to God honestly. Thank Him, ask for His guidance, confess your failures, and bring your concerns to Him. Prayer is not a performance. It’s part of a relationship.
Spend time with other believers. A healthy Christian fellowship provides encouragement, instruction, correction, and opportunities to serve. We were never intended to walk this journey entirely alone.
And as you learn what Scripture teaches, begin putting it into practice.
There’s a brief passage in the Old Testament that offers a helpful pattern.
Ezra was a man devoted to God’s Word. The Bible says:
“For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.”
—Ezra 7:10 (KJV)
Notice the progression.
Ezra prepared his heart to seek God’s Word, to do what it taught, and then to teach it to others.
That’s a useful pattern for us, too.
First, we learn what God has said. Then we begin applying what we’ve learned to our own lives. And as our understanding and experience grow, we become better equipped to encourage and help someone else.
You don’t need to become a Bible teacher tomorrow. You may still have more questions than answers, and that’s perfectly understandable.
But you can begin learning today. And when you discover something God has clearly taught, you can begin putting it into practice.
Perhaps that means forgiving someone you’ve been holding a grudge against. Perhaps it means speaking more carefully, making an apology, resisting a familiar temptation, or setting aside a few minutes to read Scripture.
These may seem like small things.
But the Christian life is lived largely through ordinary moments of faithfulness.
Paul describes it this way:
“For we walk by faith, not by sight:”
—2 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV)
Notice that he says walk.
Not sprint. Not leap from one great spiritual experience to another.
Walk.
One step, then another.
You’re Beginning, Not Finishing
Becoming a Christian is not the end of your spiritual journey. It’s the beginning of a new life with Christ.
You won’t understand everything immediately. You won’t always feel spiritually strong. And there will be occasions when you look at yourself and wonder why you haven’t made more progress.
When those moments come, remember where your confidence belongs.
Not in your ability to maintain a perfect record.
Not in the strength of your emotions.
Not even in how much you’ve learned since becoming a Christian.
Your confidence belongs in Jesus Christ and what He has accomplished for you.
Keep learning. Keep praying. Keep returning to Scripture. When you stumble, confess your failure and turn back toward God. When you don’t know what to do next, begin with what He has already shown you.
You don’t have to figure out the entire journey today.
You simply need to take the next faithful step.
And you don’t take it alone.
Continue exploring: M5 Accord’s Biblical Guidance and Christian Living resources address questions about assurance, spiritual growth, prayer, doubt, and the ordinary challenges of following Christ.
For a fuller discussion of the early Christian life, see The Day After Tomorrow: Finding Security in Christ Through Doubt, Failure, and the Everyday Christian Life by Robert McQuaig.