You don’ t have to be a seminary-educated theologian to understand how to obtain eternal life. You don’t need to jump through all kinds of religious hoops to gain divine favors. You can’t even clean yourself up enough to approach God and find acceptance!
Born with a sin nature, we cannot find our way to God. But by His grace, He has already come to us to show us the way that we can one day be in His holy presence. This way is through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And God made this way simple to understand, and simple to obtain – by faith alone.
“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or ‘Who will descend into the abyss’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:6-9).
Admit our need. The first step to receiving eternal life is to recognize that sin separates us from God. We all fall short of God’s standard (Romans 3:23), and we can never reach that standard on our own. Do you realize that you have to be saved from this sin nature? Do you desire to be free from its power over you and its consequence of spiritual death and eternity in Hell?
Believe on Jesus. The second step is to believe that Jesus Christ is the One who can give you this freedom. He came to die in your place to pay the penalty for the sin in your life, and to rise from the dead, so that all who trust in Him can be set free from the power of both sin and its consequence of death, and to instead receive the promise of eternal life in Heaven. This is pure grace – a gift that we do not deserve. By simply believing in Him, we can have the confidence of everlasting life.
Call out to God. In addition to believing that Jesus Christ died and rose again to set you free, the third step is to call out to God, to actively respond to this free gift of salvation and eternal life and express your desire for it. He longs to give it to you. You need only to ask.
The message of this Good News is simple, but it’s also costly to respond. Jesus Christ has already paid the way, but receiving eternal life requires your willingness to be humble and recognize your need to be saved, that He is the only way, and that you are not enough on your own.
When you put your trust in Jesus, the Bible says He comes to live in us through His Spirit, making us acceptable to God through His life in us. Our sin nature loses its power, we are able to live a transformed life, and His life in us will ensure eternal life in Heaven for our souls when we die.
Just follow the A-B-Cs, and you will find peace with God and life everlasting.