I was thinking through all the permutations of being "Saved by Grace". What could it mean?
1) It could mean simply a new law, which replaced the old law. Grace could be simply the NT. That would be being disingenuous to the way Paul explains it.
2) It could mean payment of original sin, similar to someone paying off your outstanding parking fines, but not paying off any other driving offences you commit from here on.
3) It could mean you are now free from sin, and can sit around, playing PS3
4) It could mean you are a slave to Christ, like Paul says in Romans 6
[15] What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
[16] Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
[17] But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
[18] Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
[19] I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
[20] For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
[21] What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
[22] But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
If Paul's expo is true, then it should mean that you are now possessed by Christ, and can do no evil. What could it possibly mean? Could it mean that any evil you do, is now evil for good? eg, if I get drunk and run someone over, it will transpire that I just ran over someone who was about to commit a murder, or rape. Since I'm now guided by Christ, anything I do will turn out good.
If this was generally believed to be the case, then Christians wouldn't try to be good all the time. And Christ wouldn't warn that even lusting after a divorced woman could send me to hell.
Coming back to a more conventional explanation: I should have the spirit of Christ in me, and that should, at the very least, free me from unnatural carnal lusts, like masturbation, homosexuality, avarice, sex addiction, gambling addiction, hate, envy, sloth. It should do all this, even if I get no other decent help from Christ. This at the very least, should occur. God forbid I ask that my life gets any easier, after I become a Christian; so, I'm not asking to be physically healed, or get any free breaks in life, or for God to help out with the phenomenal tasks I'm supposed to achieve, to sustain my free gift.
After thinking that, I realised that Christians shouldn't quote Job, if they think Grace is a free gift. Because, if you believe that Grace is a free gift, then who exactly is trying to test your faith, and take it all back again? It's sort of like, I'm giving you this free gift, and now I'm going to kick you in the nuts until you give it back to me.