I was once asked by a man who had recently placed his faith in Christ, “Pastor Loren, what comes after salvation? Is that all there is?” He was sincere in his question, but I had to chuckle. Salvation is both the end and the beginning. It settles our record with God. We have been saved or justified by faith. Our sins have been forgiven, but the process of living for Christ has just begun.The answer to the question of what comes after salvation is: a process of discipleship.  God’s goal is to help us grow and develop in the image and character of Jesus.  In other words, he wants us to be like Jesus.There is a key verse in Galatians 2:20 that many Christians fail to understand. If we can grasp the truth of this verse it will set us on the right track.It says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”The context of Galatians 2 is how the believer is made right with God. False teachers were telling the Galatian churches that faith in Christ was not enough. To be saved, they said, believers must also be circumcised and in a sense, become “Jewish.” Only then would they be in a right relationship with God. Paul corrects this idea by saying: “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.Being crucified with Christ means that we are no longer under the penalty of the Law. That penalty was paid by Christ on our behalf. When Christ was crucified, it was as if we were crucified with Him. The penalty was fully paid—just as surely as if we had been crucified for our own sins. When Christ rose from the dead, we rose, too. Now the risen Christ empowers us to live for Him in a way that pleases God.Being crucified with Christ, we are now saved and in right relationships with God. But notice the second part of Galatians 2:20. Paul says, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”Galatians 5:24 helps us understand this. It says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” What dies in union with Christ is our old passions — our old sinful, Christ-dishonoring desires. Now we have new desires and passions…and they are to honor God. When Jesus died on the cross, his physical body completely died. No part of him was still alive. In a spiritual sense, we are to die with Christ. We no longer live. Our old sinful man can no longer live. Christ lives in us. We must clearly understand that the Apostle Paul is talking about a lifestyle of sin, not just a single act or two of failure. He is talking about Christians who go on absolutely unchanged in their lifestyle from what they were before they were Christians. None of us are perfect and we may stumble, but we get back up with the goal of growing in Christlikeness and learning from our mistakes. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul said, “I die daily.” He’s referring to his sinful nature. He willingly and decidedly puts it to death and chooses to live for Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.It echoes Jesus’ command to those who want to follow Him: “If anyone would come after me let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).So, we get back to the original question: What happens after salvation? Is it the end or the beginning? It is both. We are saved from our sins and brought to new life in Christ. It is then that the process of sanctification begins, this letting go of the old life and taking on the new.Today’s Challenge: This new year, through the power of the Holy Spirit, let’s die to the world and the flesh. Let’s crucify these desires and temptation. Let’s walk in new life in Christ. He has purchased our freedom. Let’s choose to live in it.

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