Eternal life comes as a result of God's grace. It is His gift, unearned and undeserved on our part. No one will ever be able to boast that he or she has earned or deserves the gift of eternal life.

But can doing things—or not doing things —disqualify us from receiving that wonderful gift from God?

If there is an authority on receiving eternal life, it has to be Jesus Christ. After all, He is the one through whom we receive it.

In Hebrews 5:8-9, Jesus is called the author of our salvation: "Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him."

Since salvation is God's gift, what does this passage mean when it speaks of "eternal salvation to all who obey Him"? If we must do something to receive God's gift of salvation, how can it be a gift?

Gifts can have conditions

The fact is, the Bible shows that God sets certain conditions for receiving salvation. Some conditions enable us to receive that gift, and other conditions disqualify us from receiving it.

To use an analogy, if someone offered to send you a $100 bill if you would send him a self-addressed stamped envelope, he would be offering you a gift. If you failed to send the envelope, you would not receive the gift. You might complain, but you still would not receive the gift because you had not met the conditions. On the other hand, if you sent the required envelope and received the $100 bill, you did not earn the gift. You simply met the necessary conditions. The fact that conditions are attached makes it no less a gift.

Since Jesus is the author of our salvation, let's examine a few of His statements that tell us what we must do to receive that gift.

What must we do?

In Matthew 7:21 Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."Jesus made it clear that merely acknowledging Him as Lord and Master—saying "Lord, Lord"—is not sufficient. To inherit the Kingdom, we must do something. We must do the will of the Father, as He clearly stated.

Jesus wants us to understand that there is more to receiving eternal life than just mental acceptance. Our conviction that He is our Savior must be more than just a warm, comforting thought or intellectual concept. Jesus warns that simply calling on His name or recognizing Him as "Lord"is not enough.

At one point a wealthy young man asked Jesus how he could receive eternal life. "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?"the man asked (Matthew 19:16). Christ's reply, in verse 17, might shock some who think obedience to God's law is unnecessary. Jesus responded, "If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."

Jesus didn't answer that nothing is required other than believing in God or in Him. He told the young man that he must obey the commandments of God to receive the gift of eternal life.

As the apostle James points out, belief is pointless unless it is backed up by action and obedience: "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble" (James 2:19).

He goes on to explain that faith—belief and trust in God—and obedience go hand in hand: "But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?"(James 2:20-22).

James thus explained that works of obedience as a result of our faith maintain our relationship with God and lead to greater faith and obedience, as God requires.

Baptism and laying on of hands

Jesus gave another condition for God's gift of eternal life in Mark 16:16: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."Water baptism—by full immersion—is a symbolic act representing the death of our old self and the beginning of a new life of serving God and striving to avoid sin (Romans 6:1-23).

Baptism is also followed by the laying on of hands, which allows us to receive God's Holy Spirit and truly belong to Him (Acts 8:17; Romans 8:9). Unless we surrender our lives to God through baptism and the laying on of hands to receive His Spirit as instructed, we fail to meet—whether knowingly or unknowingly—His prerequisites for receiving His gift of salvation. To those who would brush aside these and other plain biblical instructions Jesus replies, "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say?"(Luke 6:46).

In Matthew 10:22 Jesus listed another condition we must meet to receive God's gift of salvation: "He who endures to the end will be saved."We can lose out on salvation if we fail to endure to the end. Once we have committed ourselves to obeying God and surrendering ourselves to Him, we must stay the course to the end and not look back (Luke 9:62; 1 Corinthians 9:27).

Free, but not cheap

You may have heard the expression, "Salvation is free, but it isn't cheap."God's gift of life to us cost Jesus Christ His life. He, the very Son of God, willingly surrendered His life so that we might receive God's wonderful gift of eternal life.

But He expects us to surrender our lives in return. "If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And you cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow me" (Luke 14:26-27, NLT, 1996).

Our love for and commitment to Jesus Christ and God the Father must be more important to us than any other relationship. Each of us must be willing to bear his "cross,"to faithfully follow Jesus even through life's most difficult challenges.

Luke 14:28-33 carry that thought, warning us to consider carefully that accepting the gift of eternal life comes at the highest cost we can imagine. "So no one can become my disciple without giving up everything for me" (Luke 14:33, NLT, 1996).

As Jesus Christ gave His life for us, we must be willing to give our lives to follow Him!