How to Become a Saved Follower of Jesus

 

Though it transforms you, it’s not complicated

Becoming a follower of Jesus Christ is not complicated, even though its impacts in this life and the next are immeasurable. Essentially, there are only four beliefs you need to hold and three actions you need to take. I’ll list these seven things and then provide a few explanatory notes.

     For info on why other Christian beliefs aren’t required and thoughts on criteria for believing, see Needless obstacles to belief (or feel free to contact me).

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Four beliefs and three actions

The four beliefs you need to hold

1. God, out of love for me, wants to adopt me into his “nuclear family,” both for this life and for the eternity after I die.

2. I’m too self-centered, and ungodly in other ways, to be fit to be that intimate with God, who is perfectly good.

3. God saved me from separation from him by incarnating himself as Jesus Christ, taking my ungodly actions and thoughts on himself through his death on the cross (voluntarily, out of love for me), and rising from the dead.

4. Christ offers that salvation as a free gift to me, which I only need to sincerely accept and put my trust in.

The three actions you need to take

1. Accept and put your trust in Christ’s free gift of salvation.

2. Decide that your life will be directed by Christ's teachings from now on instead of by your own agenda.

3. Join the family of Jesus’s followers.

 

The four beliefs and three actions with notes added

The four beliefs you need to hold, with notes

1. God, out of love for me, wants to adopt me into his “nuclear family,” both for this life and for the eternity after I die.
        When one really believes this, one is conscious that it’s an unimaginably wonderful fact.

2. I’m too self-centered (and un-Godly in other ways) to be fit to be that intimate with God in his perfect goodness.
      As much as we may wish we could be as good as God, we are not capable of that on our own. In order to realize how deeply ingrained our ungodliness is, it helps to consider that Jesus’s suffering and death on the cross were required to free us from it. (The high price Jesus paid is also a measure of how crucial it is to avoid being separated from God for eternity.)

3. God saved me from separation from him by incarnating himself as Jesus Christ, taking my ungodly actions and thoughts on himself through his agony and death on the cross (voluntarily, out of love for me), and rising from the dead.
        In order for a person to believe that it’s possible for their salvation to be accomplished in this way, they need to believe that Christ is the incarnation of God (the “only Son of God,” to use biblical language).

4. Christ offers that salvation as a free gift to me, which I only need to sincerely accept and put my trust in.
       Note that the good behavior or thoughts of a person are not part of what accomplishes their salvation.
       When a person puts their trust in salvation through Christ, his Spirit immediately takes up residence in them. One of the many wonderful effects of this is improvement in their thoughts and behavior.

The three actions you need to take, with notes

1. Accept and put your trust in Christ’s free gift of salvation.
       I think it comes naturally to take this action when you hold beliefs #2 and #3. (In “Christianese,” this action is “accepting Christ as your Savior.”)
       This can be done via telling Christ in a simple prayer that you’re doing it right then.

2. Decide that your life will be directed by Christ's teachings from now on instead of by your own agenda.
       It comes naturally, out of gratitude, to make this decision when you believe Christ loves you so much that he sacrificed himself for you on the cross – especially since, as God incarnate, he will be an infinitely wise and good director of your life. (In Christianese, this action is called repenting of sin and making Christ the Lord of your life.)
       When a person has been saved, Christ’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit) takes up permanent residence in them, making wonderful new resources available to them for living more by God’s agenda and less by their own. In fact, the Spirit’s being part of them makes them a new person.

3. Join the family of Jesus’s followers.
        All people who have become new persons through salvation are now “brothers and sisters in Christ.” Jesus taught that it doesn't really work to be a deliberately solo Christian. A new believer should get into relationship with fellow members of their new family. The best way, beyond compare, to do this is by getting connected with a local church.
        At a good number of churches, genuine, biblical Christianity has been altered to fit cultural trends. But plenty of churches have stayed true to Jesus's teachings; help with finding them may be found here.