What must I do to be saved?

Paul did not hand him a list. He did not say keep the Sabbath, give a tenth first, clean up your life and come back later, or repeat this prayer after me. He gave no rules, no formula and no price. He pointed a scared man to a Person.

What it means to believe

The word Paul used is πιστεύω pisteuō. It means to believe, to trust, to lean your full weight on something. You can say a chair will hold you, but you show it when you sit down and let the chair hold all of you.

Believing in Jesus is like that. You stop holding yourself up by how good you are. You trust that He died for your sins, that He rose from the dead, and that He saves you. A child jumps into a father’s arms, not because the child is strong, but because the father is.

The whole Bible says the same thing

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

It does not say whoever tithes or whoever keeps a day. It says whoever believes. When a crowd asked Jesus what work God wanted, He said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent” (John 6:29).

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

The man on the cross

The thief who died beside Jesus was never baptized, never tithed and never kept a Sabbath. His hands were nailed down. He simply turned and said, “Jesus, remember me.” Jesus answered, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42-43).

You do not need the perfect words

The Bible never gives one set prayer you must pray to be saved. Words do not save you. Jesus does. If you have prayed the same prayer a hundred times just to be sure, you can rest.