While the Bible unequivocally teaches that we are saved by grace, we are still responsible for doing all we can to acquire salvation.  Listen to whom Paul says God will give eternal life:

Romans 2:7 (ESV)
⁷ To those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.

Eternal life must be sought.  Paul says we do that by seeking “glory and honor and immortality.”  This is another way of referring to salvation.  When Jesus comes back, our bodies will be changed from mortal to immortal, at which time we will receive glory and honor.

Philippians 3:20-21 (ESV)
²⁰But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ Who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Speaking of our glorified bodies, Paul wrote this to the saints at Rome:

Romans 8:18 (KJV)
¹⁸ For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

To obtain this glory, we have to seek it.  The word seek comes from the Greek word zētéō, which means “to endeavor or strive for.”  No one is going to make it to heaven by accident.  The only ones who will be saved without any effort will be those who have not reached the age of accountability (Deuteronomy 1:39) because they have no sin on their account.  The rest of us must strive for it.

How do we seek salvation? Paul said we do it “by patience in well-doing.”    We need patience because the well-doing must continue throughout our lives.  We never stop.  We do not retire when it comes to laboring for the Lord.  We continue to seek salvation by living for Christ daily, serving Him in any way that we can.  If we quit too soon, all of our labor will have been for nought.  Paul put it like this:

1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV)
⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

If we do not want our labor to be in vain, we must patiently work out our own salvation (Philippians 2:12).

How do we know what well-doing is?  That is an important question because many think that they are doing good for the Lord when they are not.  The right answer is that we turn to the Bible.  That is the only place we can find the will of God.  Anything we do religiously that cannot be found in the Bible is not a good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
¹⁶ All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

By the scriptures, God equips us for every good work.  Thus, the scriptures are all we need to be patient in well-doing, and in being so, God will reward us with eternal life.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.