Reflections on the Big Apple: Hearing, Believing & Connecting

Day 3 of the Big Apple Adventure wrapped up nicely here at Gospel Light. Today our focus was on salvation, the ABCs of becoming a Christian, and connecting with trust in God. This morning, as we started with our opening Worship Rally, we yelled our VBS motto together, like we do every morning. Our motto is:  

Hear it! Believe it! Connect it! 

I really like that motto because it stresses connecting faith with life. It covers the three practical steps of understanding the gospel:

1. Hear it! The first thing that the kids need to do is hear the gospel, and they certainly do hear it every day at VBS! Our campers are faithfully taught the Word of God every day of this week, so there's no excuses. They've heard it.
2. Believe it! Now the kids may not have had much of a choice in hearing it. If they were dragged to VBS against their will, they may not have wanted to hear the Word of God, but they did anyway. Believing is different though. Parents can't make the decision of believing in God for their kids. The kids have to step out in faith on their own. They have to believe the gospel because of their own convictions, not that of their parents. 
3. Connect it! And once the kids have heard the gospel and believed in it, they have to connect it with life. They have to tell their friends and their family. They have to confess Jesus as Lord and live their life a different way because of that confession.

"So faith comes from what is heard and what is heard comes through the message about Christ." 

Romans 10:17