Free, But Not Everyone Is Rushing For It

Everyone loves gifts, especially if we are the recipient. But there is a gift, waiting to be given, and yet not many would like to accept. This is the gift of eternal life from God.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23 KJV)

Why is it that such a wonderful gift is not accepted? There are two reasons.

The Conditions of the Gift
When a gift is accepted, an acceptance of the conditions of the gift is implied. Anyone who accepts the gift of eternal life from God have to accept the following as true:

• You die, not because it is natural, but because you are a sinner.
• God exists. Jesus Christ is God.
• The Bible is true.
• Jesus is the only way: Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6 HCSB)

The Gift is not Immediate

Everyone who become a Christian still dies. If it were not so, all the apostles and other Christians will still be alive, walking the earth. Even Jesus went back to Heaven after forty days. He did not stick around.

The eternal life is a future event of resurrection after death. In this respect, every religion is the same. All ends with death, and whatever is promised will be realized only after death. The only difference is, in Christianity, eternal life is a gift to be accepted by faith. For other religions, whatever is promised has to be believed by faith but earned by works.

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift - not from works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 HCSB)

And it pleases God to design the salvation of men in this manner to His own glory, so that no man can claim credit for his own salvation.

Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6 HCSB)