What Happens After We Accept Christ?

When a person comes to saving faith in Jesus Christ, something extraordinary begins. But what actually happens after the believer accepts Christ and flees a sinful lifestyle? Peter shows us that salvation is just the starting point of an incredible journey—one marked by divine power over corruption and sustained by God’s amazing grace at every step.

The moment we turn to Christ in repentance and faith, we escape the corruption and rottenness that held power over us through our sinful nature (Romans 6:17-18). But this initial escape is only the beginning. God doesn’t save us and then leave us to figure out the Christian life on our own. Instead, He provides everything we need for the journey ahead through His divine power that has already been given to us.

Our Faith Deepens Through Knowing God

After conversion, the believer’s faith begins to deepen and mature. How does this happen? Peter makes it clear: through the knowledge of God. This isn’t merely learning facts about God or memorizing doctrines—though those have their place. This is an intimate, personal sharing of life with Him, based on the foundation of our repentance and faith (John 17:3).

As our knowledge of God grows deeper and wider—as we come to understand more of His ways, His attributes, and His sovereignty—something wonderful multiplies in our lives: grace and peace. The more we truly know Him, the more we experience His grace to cover our failures and His peace to steady our anxious hearts. This isn’t a one-time gift but an ever-increasing reality. Grace and peace are multiplied, not just added, as we walk in intimate relationship with the One who called us by His glory and virtue (Philippians 4:6-7).

Equipped With Divine Power for the Journey

Here’s where God’s amazing grace becomes even more evident: Christ’s divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Think about that promise—all things. We don’t lack any spiritual resource necessary for growth and perseverance throughout this life. His power becomes our sufficiency and our security.

Every spiritual resource we need to sustain obedient, godly living according to God’s will has been provided through His divine power over corruption. When temptation comes, we have His strength to resist (1 Corinthians 10:13); when trials overwhelm us, we have His grace to persevere (2 Corinthians 12:9); when we don’t know how to pray, His Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26). This divine power operates through God’s “exceedingly great and precious promises”—promises that aren’t just encouraging words but actual spiritual realities that sustain us day by day.

The Spirit reveals Christ’s glory and virtue to our hearts, continually drawing us deeper into relationship with Him. Through this ongoing revelation, we access the resources we need not just to survive the Christian life, but to thrive in it—growing in holiness, bearing fruit, and becoming more like Jesus with each passing day (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The Glorious Culmination: Partakers of His Divine Nature

But God’s plan doesn’t end with our present transformation. Our precious faith in Christ culminates in something almost too wonderful to comprehend: the promise of an abundantly blessed eternal life. When we trusted Christ, we became children of God and new creations—the Holy Spirit took up residence within us, and we began partaking of the divine nature (2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 John 5:11-12).

Yet what we experience now is only a foretaste of what’s coming. Our personal relationship with Christ, nurtured through years of growing in knowledge and sustained by His divine power, will reach its glorious fulfillment when we receive our glorified bodies like Jesus (Philippians 3:20-21). In that moment, we will fully and finally share in His divine glory—transformed completely, made perfect, freed entirely from every last trace of corruption (1 John 3:2).

In that sinless, spotless new creation, the corrupted power of this fallen world will have no place whatsoever (Revelation 21:4). The journey that began with our escape from corruption through faith will be completed in our permanent, eternal freedom from all that once enslaved us. We will partake fully of the divine nature, sharing in Christ’s glory for all eternity—not because of anything we accomplished, but because of His amazing grace and divine power working in us from beginning to end.

The Journey Made Possible by Grace

From start to finish, this entire journey is made possible by God’s amazing grace and power. We didn’t save ourselves—He called us by His glory and virtue. Neither can we sustain ourselves—His divine power provides everything we need. Finally, we can’t glorify ourselves—He will transform us by that same power that raised Christ from the dead. Every step of the way, from our initial deliverance from corruption to our final glorification, demonstrates that salvation belongs to the Lord and He completes what He begins (Philippians 1:6).

Reflection Questions

1. As you reflect on your journey since accepting Christ, how have you seen your faith deepen through growing in knowledge of God? What specific attributes or ways of God have become more real to you?
2. Where in your life right now do you need to remember that Christ’s divine power has already given you everything you need for godliness? What would change if you truly believed you lack nothing?
3. How does understanding that your relationship with Christ will culminate in sharing His divine glory affect the way you face today’s struggles and temptations?
4. In what practical ways can you pursue deeper knowledge of God this week, knowing that this is how grace and peace multiply in your life?

Prayer

Consider the amazing progression of God’s work in your life—from salvation to sanctification to glorification. Thank Him for His faithfulness at every stage of the journey.

If you’re reading this and wondering how to begin this journey with Christ, I’d love to help you understand more about what it means to accept Him as Savior. Visit the Salvation section to learn more about how you can experience this life-transforming relationship with Jesus.