WHAT CAN I DO TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE?
Multitudes have asked this all-important question, and many have tried to answer it. In this folder it is my purpose to answer this question, with a minimum of words. Too often, the answer is lost in a maze of only words.
If the answer could be summed up in one short statement, I believe it would be something like this: You can have eternal life by surrendering your will to God's will. "[Jesus said] nevertheless not My will, but Thine be done." (Luke 22:42).
To surrender the will to someone else is one of the hardest things we have to do in our lives, yet we find ourselves compelled to do it frequently. For instance, you cannot be a good soldier unless you surrender your will to that of the army. You cannot be a good student until you thus surrender to the school. You cannot be a good laborer, farmhand, or in fact, anything, without a certain amount of self-surrender.
You might now ask: What is God's will concerning me? His will is found in His Word, the Bible. Primarily, God wants you to turn from your sin, from Satan, and from self. " . . . Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (I Thessalonians 1:9). Along with this, and simultaneously, He wants you to receive Jesus Christ, His Son, as your only means of inheriting eternal life. "But as many as received Him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God . . ." "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (John 1:12, Acts 4:12).
When you receive [believe in or trust] Christ as your own personal Saviour, the blood He shed on Calvary is applied to your sin; and, in God's sight, your sin is gone forever. "[Jesus] loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree . . . " (Revelation 1:5, I Peter 2:24). You, at that instant, become a child of God, a partaker of eternal life. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life . . ." (John 3:36).
The submission of your will to God cannot be a half-hearted, makes-no-difference affair. You must come on God's conditions or not at all. It must be a determined, sincere, definite act of surrender to The Almighty.
If you have not as yet made your decision for Christ, now is the time. To delay could be disastrous. In fact, it is God's will that you act immediately concerning your eternal salvation. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." "Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart" (II Corinthians 6:2, Hebrews 4:7).
Only you can make this mighty choice involving your eternal destiny. Eternal life through the living Christ is offered to you at this moment. Surrender your will to the Lord Jesus Christ, for the Bible says: "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13).
-- Arthur E. Gordon
