Knowing how to live the Christian life can be hard. Here are three myths new Christians might believe.

My theory is that we have an onboarding problem in Christianity. Onboarding is a workplace term for the process of integrating new employees into an organization.

When I started practicing telemedicine, no one was seeing patients over the phone yet. I was an early adopter. My mother thought I was crazy for considering leaving traditional medicine for medicine by phone, but I was sold on the idea.

Because the practice of telemedicine was so new, I applied for the position and two weeks later I was cleared to see patients by phone. I didn’t bother to ask about an orientation and was told that I would learn as I went along.

That was my onboarding.

It took me six months of seeing a lot of patients by phone to learn all the things I was doing wrong. In fact, I almost lost that job until I finally got my act together and essentially onboarded myself. Because there was no one holding my hand and telling me how to grow in the practice of telemedicine, I had to teach myself.

That’s a little bit like how we sometimes do discipleship these days. You may come back from a revival meeting pumped up about Jesus. Someone hands you a Bible and tells you to read it. If you’re lucky, you join a small group where you’re handed a Bible study book and told to read it too. And off you go on this adventure we call “the Christian life.”

You’re expected to learn how to follow Jesus simply by following Jesus. This is great—until the storms of life start to hit. The moment the waves rise and the water starts getting into the boat, you may begin to wonder about the whole thing. Why are you in the boat in the first place? Will the boat be strong enough to make it through the storm? How long will the storm last? Will God help us through the storm?

Like the disciples before us, we can start to lose faith when the storm hits. The truth is you and I need all the help we can get when it comes to knowing how to follow Jesus.

I grew up in a Christian home. I went to a Christian college. I had a deep and personal experience with Jesus before I turned twenty. I even eventually felt called to teach the Bible and pursue full-time ministry. I did all of that and I still almost left the faith.

After thinking back about why I almost lost my faith, I’ve realized it’s because I didn’t expect the Christian life to be hard in the way that I found it to be hard.

Myth #1: I thought that just because I’d given my life to Jesus, He would help me have an easier life.

Myth #2: I didn’t think my life would be problem-free, but I did think it would be less problematic.

Myth #3: I didn’t think that God would answer all my prayers, but I did think He would answer some of the big ones in the way that I wanted Him to.

We all need help trying to figure out how to live the Christian life. We need to know how to experience God more deeply and consistently, even if—or especially when—life is hard.

We need to be onboarded in this thing called “following Jesus” so that we don’t wake up one day, years after the revival meeting where we thought everything in our life was about to change, and wonder how we could have been naive enough to believe that.

You might be wondering by now, if the Christian life is so hard, why would anyone want any part of it? It’s not naive to believe that following Jesus is the best decision you’ll ever make in this life.

Jesus is everything He has promised us He would be and much more.

His love has sustained me through every doubt and through every storm. His presence has comforted me when I’ve felt the weight of anxiety threaten to suffocate my joy. His promises have held me up when I’ve literally wanted to quit.

Jesus changes everything.

While the Christian life is hard, walking through life with Jesus by your side is the best thing that could ever happen to you.

He’s the secret sauce. He’s the friend that sticks closer than a brother.

Because of Jesus, we are promised forgiveness for our past, security for our present, and purpose for the future.

Because of Jesus, we don’t have to be afraid and wonder what will happen to us if life doesn’t go our way.

 

Life won’t always go our way, but Jesus will always be the way. The culture around us will change, but God’s love for us will never change. Our moods will fluctuate, but God’s presence is constant.

It’s easy to be a Christian for a day, but what we need is lasting power. The call to follow Jesus is a call for a lifetime.

It’s a call to follow Jesus with all your life for all your life.

“Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Adapted All Your Life by Lina AbuJamra. Copyright (c) 2026 by Lina AbuJamra. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press. www.ivpress.com

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