Congratulations! If you’ve heard the gospel message and have come to believe it, you are now a Christian.
This is not as simple as you may imagine:
- Your entire existential view of the world will likely invert itself a few times.
- God will require you to experience some tremendous changes to your lifestyle, which will include many hardships.
- Expect to have quite a few bad habits confronted. Prepare for an uphill battle to start many good habits to replace them.
You’re not alone, however:
- As a new Christian, you’re developing a relationship with God.
- No matter where you are, this relationship starts with reading your Bible and praying.
- You don’t have to associate with any specific church denomination. However, your greatest source of connection will come through your affiliation with the Church at large.
- And, even when you’re alone, the Holy Spirit is always with you (Matthew 28:20).
The Bible itself is a big book compilation, but you should read it before reading anyone else’s opinions on it. Here is a good way to approach the books if you don’t know where to start:
- Read the Gospel of John.
- Read the other 3 Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke).
- Read the rest of the New Testament (Acts through Revelation).
- Read the Old Testament.
- Re-read more in-depth, with a focus on heavier study.
- To the degree you care, explore the Bible’s non-canonical texts and church history in general. The lens of history distorts things, but there are still valuable things to learn in those books.
Beyond reading and praying, constantly look for things you can do to serve others and the Church. Knowledge without love is actually a spiritual risk (1 Corinthians 8:1).
As you spend more time in the faith, you’ll learn more about the Being that made you,
- Since God created us for a relationship with Him, understanding God slowly reveals who you are.
- Over time, you’ll develop an understanding of how we are all designed.
- This information can often be uncomfortable, but He rewards us generously when we dig deeper into it.
As you start making changes, other people will notice.
- Over time, the fallen world around us will find your thoughts and motivations an utter mystery.
- Expect a rift between at least some of your family and friends. You will probably have to change out most, if not all, of them.
- This typically happens over years, though, so there’s no need to rush it. God will also give you the time to grow before you face those issues.
Your new community will have to be with other believers, but that may be more difficult than you realize:
- If your part of the world has a dominant religion that isn’t Christianity, expect some form of persecution.
- The word “Christian” can mean “follower of Jesus” or “person who claims to be a follower of Jesus”. These are very different things!
- In secular post-Christian societies (i.e., most of the West), you’ll face persecution against people claiming to be Christian.
- God sees it all, though. We are responsible for loving those fallen people in the same way Jesus died for his enemies.
One of the hardest parts of the faith is that God has commanded us to love our neighbors and enemies.
- This is not easy, but He graciously and generously teaches us.
- Expect to fail a lot in your serving. Expect plenty of humbling as He steadily teaches you what you need to learn. In this, learn to apologize quickly.
- He saved us by grace through faith that He provided. He has also planned our good works ahead of time, so there’s no reason to stress about it (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Your new salvation experience will bring you through a type of trend within yourself:
- You’re responsible for claiming control of your soul in His name, and you’ll immediately become heavily aware of your sins.
- God will provoke you to change habits in your daily life.
- As you discover your identity in Christ, your spiritual gifts will express themselves more vividly.
- As you start making consequences in your daily life, you will likely veer too far into an extreme.
- After a few extremes, continued devotion will eventually balance out your life. This typically takes 5–20 years, depending on whether you had someone disciple you.
- Eventually, the Holy Spirit will use your prolonged spiritual walk to give you a natural intuition and desire for righteousness.
- It’s likely that after enough time, God will position you to become a spiritual leader yourself.
Your growth will come directly from God, not through your direct efforts (Philippians 2:13).
- Don’t obsess too heavily about “getting it right” (Matthew 11:28–30).
- He’ll reveal what you need to change in His timing, and it’ll be abundantly obvious (James 3:17).
- Your greatest challenges will be in making the right decisions. There will be spiritual warfare about things that may sometimes seem unimportant.
You will face resistance from multiple places.
- First, your mind and personality will resist living as sinlessly as possible.
- Your family may not like the changes you’re making, even if they identify themselves as Christian.
- The devil is constantly seeking to alienate and deceive you.
- Many governments have illegalized your beliefs.
One of the clearest signs of spiritual growth is a unique paradox:
- You’re experiencing strong, consistent, irreconcilable conflicts with the world and other people professing Christianity. This can range from misunderstanding all the way to hardship against you (including violence).
- Your conduct becomes steadily better over time, and you learn to be more gracious to your persecutors.
- Your inner conflicts become less severe as you learn to handle them more gracefully.
The chaos will sometimes not relent, but God has a plan for all of it.
- When He’s ready, Jesus will return, though statistically it’s more likely we’ll meet Him first. Eventually, He’ll judge everyone who has ever lived in the largest court hearing in existence (Revelation 20:11-14).
- In light of that, is it really wise to obsess over smaller details or politically fight over various religious aspects? (2 Peter 3:11).
Always remember what drove you to Jesus in the first place, but your motivations will likely change with you.
- It may have been fear of hell, a spiritual experience, or you saw that the Bible’s God was the real one.
- Many times, believers see His depth only after many years in the faith.
- Finishing the race is just as important as starting it (Matthew 24:13).
You’ll also discover further conflicts as you grow. Churches often bicker over things with no spiritual benefit. Ever since Jesus established the Church, this has been a problem. It will persist until Jesus returns.
We’re all waiting, but we don’t have much of a timetable for it. In that unknown, we have trouble agreeing on any shared purpose. While Jesus’ commands were to preach the Gospel and make disciples among the nations, even that can become an apologetics and church leadership debate!
And, if you’re reading this, and I haven’t had my eternal hope fulfilled yet, feel free to reach out. I should be around somewhere.