Faith and grace are both critical in the life of a believer. Properly balancing the two keeps us from going to the extreme either way. Straying too far toward grace makes us passive, lazy Christians; drifting too far toward faith leads to legalism and the belief that our performance can cause God to act. God is indeed sovereign, but an overemphasis on grace can lead us to believe that everything that happens—even the bad things—is His will. By comparison, overemphasizing faith leads us to lean on our own actions and empty works to make ourselves right before Him. Grace is God’s undeserved, unmerited favor, through which He has made available to us everything we could ever need; faith is our positive response to what He has done, and it positions us to receive His blessings. Understanding this brings us past religion and allows us to walk in the manifestations God that wants us to experience.