Were that even possible (which it is not), per your criteria, it cannot be a free gift if it is up to you to have reach out and take it to have it. It is made a law by that requirement and as a law must be satisfied by the work of he who is under it to receive it. But salvation,
if it is truly a free gift as you say, it must be, well, it must be totally a free gift, which it is.
So, in using your own criteria for becoming save, it is both a law and a work.