Grace is not getting what you deserve:
All of humanity is getting Grace to live here on earth…no one is annihilated immediately after their first sin, or even after many…
However, No one is owed Grace. It is pure gift.
But not everyone gets the gift of Grace to communion with God or perseverance.
Benevolent: God upholds existence (a natural good) despite sin's disorder.
God sustains all creation in existence despite sin, reflecting His mercy and providence, yet supernatural grace, which elevates us to divine communion and enables perseverance, is a gratuitous elevation not owed to anyone and not universally possessed. Entirely dependent on God's will.
Even in the state of innocence (before the fall), humanity required elevating grace for supernatural ends, and post-Fall, it also heals sin's wounds. We were supposed to be surrendering to God’s direction not our own thoughts.
While all benefit from God's benevolent sustenance, grace for communion with God—sanctifying grace—is a selective, infused gift that justifies and divinizes the soul, making one an adopted child. It is infused by the Holy Spirit into the soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it.
Not everyone receives or retains this: it requires free cooperation, and many reject it through mortal sin, losing habitual grace. Justification involves a process (faith, contrition, etc.), not automatic bestowal. Perseverance "to the end"—remaining in grace until death—is a great gift, not assured to any justified person, requiring special divine aid beyond initial grace.
Guarantee certainty is not helpful, our flesh is weak and can turn against us. We are to place a most firm hope in God's help, not in a declaration (surrendering all the way home). We pray for it (e.g., "Thy kingdom come"), as it exceeds human power.
In summary, grace's unmerited nature sustains life providentially for all, but supernatural communion and perseverance are pure gifts, freely given yet requiring cooperation, not owed or universally guaranteed. This calls us to humble reliance on God, working out salvation "with fear and trembling."
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