Can you become a Christian and not follow Jesus? I am afraid that many serious Christians would answer yes. This is the root problem in the contemporary understanding of the gospel. It reveals two mistakes in our thinking; first that salvation is primarily about getting our sins forgiven. Second, that salvation is an event, not a lifelong process. By process, I do not mean that you must behave a certain way for a long time to merit eternal life. I am referring to the process of becoming like Jesus starting at the moment of spiritual birth.

We are born into something called salvation, which is a lifelong process. Some people would call the life of salvation a life of discipleship. Jesus invited us into this life, “If any of you want to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” Jesus’ words describe discipleship as a natural part of salvation; it is the normal Christian life.

The expectation of Jesus is that his followers would repent of their sins, take up their cross or mission in life and follow him daily. There would be an initial repentance and decision to follow him, which we would call, “becoming a Christian.” Then, repentance and turning from selfish ways and taking up the cross or special mission of life would be the daily condition required for becoming a new person in practice.

This matters because the call to be disciples and make disciples is about expectation. Jesus expected that this would be His follower’s first priority, simply because he made it so in telling them to do it. To put anything else first is a mistake. It is an exercise in missing the point. Author C. S. Lewis got it when he stated, “The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them ‘little Christs’. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose.”