I like to put it this way...
If you were to pay one cent for an object that cost $1000, you still purchased it. It is something that is owed you. If the object were given to you, it would be a gift, you did not earn it, it was freely given.
God's grace is a free gift, given to those he loves. If my effort payed for even one second of that grace, then it wouldn't be free, it would be something earned. I do good works because I am given God's grace to do so. Not so that I can buy my way into heaven. It is free, it is a gift, it is all God's work and effort. It is he who decides who he gives it to.
Since we are all created in His Image, doesn't that mean, at least at the point of our creation, that He loves us all?