Vacation Bible School is one of my favorite summer events.  And each year, there is a song about the ABCs of Salvation.  It makes the mystery of God’s love so simple that even a child can understand.  So here are the ABCs of how you can trust Jesus as your Savior.

A – Admit.  Admit to God that you are a sinner.  All people need salvation because we all have a sin problem.  Sin is when we refuse God’s love, His authority over all the world and also our lives.  Unless we can live a perfectly holy life, never making any mistakes, never having any ugly thoughts (and who can do that?) we are sinners.

The Bible, which is God’s love letter to the world, tells us that sin brings spiritual death (Romans 6:23).  Spiritual death is eternal separation for God, the One who is love and light.

Thus, we must admit to being sinful and needing God to take care of the sin problem in us.

B – Believe.  Believe that Jesus is the Christ of God, the One who was promised to bring forgiveness for sins.  Receive Jesus’ gift of forgiveness from sin.  God loves all of us and offers salvation.  We have done nothing to deserve His love and can never do anything that will make Him love us less.

For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:16).

But just like any gift, we have to receive it and make it our own.  If we reject the gift, we miss out on the blessings of being God’s child.

C – Confess.  Tell about your new faith in Jesus as your Savior. He has forgiven you of your sins and given you a brand new life.  Share that with a pastor or a Christian friend.  Follow Christ’s example and be baptized in water as a symbol of death to your old life and resurrection to the new life in Christ.  It is something to celebrate with others.

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. Romans 10:9-10

Find a Bible-teaching church where you can grow with other believers.  Church is full of imperfect people, sinners who have been saved from the punishment of sin by the grace of God.  We are a body of believers who support one another, encourage one another, and are traveling and growing together to become more like Jesus each day.

We need each other.