Without accepting yourself within the scope of God’s design, you will not see the need for God’s gift of salvation.

Recognize Your Need for God

God created man in His own image, and originally God and man lived in harmony in a perfect environment. Man had everything he needed. God provided for man’s needs and they had fellowship together.

The first man’s disobedience to God introduced sin into the world and corrupted man’s fellowship with God. (See Genesis 3.) Since that time, every person has been born with a sin nature; sin brought a curse on the entire world. Pain, sorrow, sickness, death, and every negative thing in our lives came as a result of sin.

In addition to the numerous evils introduced by sin, man’s intimate, eternal relationship with God was shattered. This loss produced deep dissatisfaction in the human race and set man on the quest to meet his spiritual needs. Only God’s work of redemption through His Son Jesus Christ can restore man’s relationship with God and bring lasting satisfaction to mankind.

Find Salvation in Christ

God sent Jesus into the world to live a perfect life and to take on Himself the fury of God’s wrath against sin. Though innocent, Jesus suffered and died, sacrificing His life to pay the debt of our sins. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead demonstrated God’s triumph over the power of sin and death. Now, all those who receive God’s gift of salvation are restored to fellowship with God.

To receive salvation through Jesus Christ:

• Accept the fact that you are a sinner under the judgment of a holy God. “For all have sinned, and come short [failed to reach the excellence] of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). There is nothing you can do for yourself to make you worthy of God’s acceptance. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us … ” (Titus 3:5). Turn from your sin and come to God for forgiveness and cleansing.
• Believe that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Jesus Christ died in your place to pay the penalty for your sin.
• Accept Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection as your own. “For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Romans 6:10–12).

Accept Yourself and God’s Plan of Redemption

Self-acceptance is a key to receiving the gift of salvation. The person who honestly accepts himself as he is (a sinner) and believes in Jesus Christ as He is (the Savior) becomes a new person in Christ. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17). He has new identity as a child of God. “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).

All who believe are granted the gift of eternal life and enjoy a restored relationship with God and His Son, Jesus Christ. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3).