What I Wish I Knew About Following Jesus
- Jane Isley
- May 14
- 5 min read
This is my first and last-ever how-to type of article, written for people interested in Christianity, but turned off by it because of all the misinformation and manipulation out there. Everything here comes from my own experience and what I wish someone had told me from the start.
You absolutely can just be a Christian. Those labels are more damaging than you realize. They start to define your journey with God more than you and God do.
2) No one church or person has it completely right.
I do not have it right. When I get to heaven there will be things I thought were true and believed that I was completely wrong about. Do not ever sell yourself short and believe that you are 100% right on everything, or that someone else is. Leave yourself room to learn and grow.
One of the most amazing things about God is that He sees your heart and where it lies. If you have a belief that is off He will direct you to that when the time is right. But that only happens if you are open to Him teaching you.
Some examples from my own life: I genuinely believed in purgatory, evolution, that satan was an equal being to God, that angels have wings, that I couldn’t cut my hair, and that baptism is required, to name a few.
God did not bring them to my attention until I was ready to learn I was wrong. My heart was in line with Him, and He had me working on other things first.
3) When God teaches you something, that is not condemnation.
This goes with number two. When God corrects something big or small, that is Him actually involved in your life. And whatever you learned yesterday that turned out to be wrong never took away your salvation from yesterday. I think part of the fear of learning we may be wrong about something is this silent belief that we would have gone to hell if we had died the day before we found out. That is not how this works.
4) You will not know everything about God, Scripture, or Christianity right away.
There is no way. Think about it this way. When you are born you eventually start kindergarten. You do not jump from kindergarten to graduation overnight.
Enjoy your process. Embrace your learning. Relax and lean into whatever stage you are in and realize God loves you in every single stage of it. If He wanted to rush us into learning everything overnight He would have set up salvation that way.
5) No church, pastor, deacon, or congregation member has any right to your journey.
Nobody gets to dictate how you should be learning or progressing according to their timeline. If you run into pushy people or people who make you feel like you are doing something wrong or not moving fast enough, walk away. Your relationship with Jesus is worth far more than their opinions.
6) You tithe where God directs you to tithe.
Many churches pressure or sometimes outright force their members to give money to the church. That is not how it works and never has been. Take your money and ask God where it is most needed. Once you leave that in His hands He will bless the rest. Also don't brag about it, don't look for a tax break or your name to be listed somewhere, that is not why we do this.
7) You are going to run into assh0les people along the way.
And I am not just talking about unbelievers, although prepare for that too. I am talking about fellow "Christians." They are going to act holy on Sunday and horrible by Monday. You are going to witness abuse, hurt, hypocrisy, prophecy seekers, crime, twisted Scripture, and so much more.
Learn to separate mankind from God and Scripture. We do it all the time with other groups. Not all doctors are bad, not all cops are bad, not all teachers are bad. That same level of discernment needs to be applied to Christianity too.
8) You can live in harmony with believers who do not share all your viewpoints.
I do it all the time. What I look for is whether their heart is in line with Christ. God will direct you when and if a conversation needs to be had.
9) Prosperity Foolishness
Do not let other believers fool you or convince you that your life should have done a complete 180 overnight, and that because it did not you are somehow lacking in faith. That is not how this works.
If you still have anxiety or a chronic illness, so did Paul. Still have depression and burnout, so did Elijah. Still have digestive issues, so did Timothy. The Bible is full of people who were still very human with very human problems.
10) Do not listen to anyone who tells you that if you really had the Holy Spirit you would just know they are right.
That is a line of malarky and you have every right not to blindly believe a person. You should not. We are given Scripture for a reason. It is also completely acceptable to say you are not sure about something yet but are looking forward to diving in and learning what the Bible says.
11) Your relationship with Jesus needs to come from your own work with Him.
Not from behind a pulpit. Not from books. Not from a devotional. Not from 30 second reels. Sit down and let His Word talk to you.
12) If something in the Bible confuses you, do not panic.
Many of us who have been doing this a long time still get stumped and confused. I take notes, try to find all the relevant passages, and hop online and search what a specific passage means. It really helps when I get stuck sorting something out. I've been doing this a long time and there's still stuff I go back to and read more on till I sort it out, not knowing something for sure does not remove your salvation or make you any less a Christian.
13) Do not let politics into your relationship with Jesus.
You let Jesus into your decisions about politics.
14) You have every right to walk away from any church/group heading in the wrong direction.
You are not indebted to a building or to the people in it. You are indebted to the man who died for you.
15) Despite popular belief, there is going to be every kind of Christian possible in heaven.
Catholics, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Mormons, Reformed, Deconstructed, Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses. No one person here on earth has it completely right. It will always come down to whether your heart was in line with Christ.
16) For the love of bacon bits, read your Bible before you read anything about your Bible.
Devotionals, extrabiblical books, podcasts, and 30 second reels do not get to be their own standard. Scripture is what you test everything against. Get rooted in His Word first and let everything else come after.
17) Please be patient with yourself as you grow in Christ.
There is no race to be won. You already crossed the finish line by going to Him.
© 2026 Jane Isley. Want more content like this? Explore more articles in Rethinking Doctrine.
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