Post-Conversion Christianity

Conversion is not the end of the Christian life.  Quite the contrary, conversion is but the beginning, the birth of a new life in Christ.  Unfortunately, many Christians consider conversion to be the only step with little care for the follow-up steps of the faith.  God does call every believer to come to Him with a child-like faith, a wonder at who He is; however, this child-like faith should not ever be confused or with a childish faith, meaning that we should press on to greater levels of spiritual maturity.

By way of introduction, the foundation of faith is unchanging and sure: Jesus Christ crucified has taken away the wall of hostility that is sin so as to redeem and restore a right relationship between man and God for all eternity.  This is the firm foundation of faith, which undergirds every subsequent step of maturation for believers.

This process of spiritual maturation that arises out of sincere conversion is to be referred to as sanctification.  In essence, this is the continual process for the repentant believer being sanctified through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to become more like the Lord Jesus.  The essential components of sanctification are prayer, worship, fellowship, and study in the pursuit of the Lord; however, the internal root of sanctification is much more guttural.

Two-fold is the practice of sanctification.  First of all, sanctification is not a passive ordeal, meaning that it requires an intentional pursuit of the things of God by believers.  This cannot be overstated.  How are believers ever going to receive the fullness of blessings promised in and fulfilled by Jesus if they are not in a constant pursuit of Him.  Think of a child promised a gift from their grandmother.  If the child never visits the grandmother, they would never receive the gift. Similarly, if we are not in pursuit of the Lord and the things of the Lord, then we will not be positioned to receive the fullness of God's grace.

The second part of this process, which is coupled with the first part, is study, that is, the study of righteousness, meaning the study into the value of and practice of righteousness.  Training in righteousness, the practice of righteousness requires two basic elements: (1) the Word, and (2) Teachers.  The former, the Word, is perspicuous and available to every believer, only requiring consistent reading.  The latter, teachers, necessitates discipleship.  This is logical if we might equate the growth of sanctification with the study of a musical instrument: not only does the student need the materials of study (the Bible), but they also need a teacher to train them in technique so as to encourage their growth (mentors).

At the final analysis, sanctification is not a passive concept received immediately in full upon the moment of belief at conversion.  Instead, sanctification is an active and life-long pursuit of righteousness.  Luckily God has provided believers with resources to guide and to help up in the pursuit and practice of righteousness, namely His Word and teachers of it.  Lastly, because this whole process is based on striving towards God, the Holy Spirit is the prompter who compels and guides sanctification along.