Excellently stated point! The gift is NOT grace, itself, but eternal life that God gifts to us by grace through faith. Where so many people go wrong is in thinking that grace is the gift and that, as said in this thread, that we must "use it" or "cooperate" with it in order to somehow merit eternal life. But we cannot ever merit or deserve or earn what God gives to us by His grace. It is on HIS terms, and HE says he gives to us eternal life THROUGH faith in Christ.
I often wonder if the reason so many people struggle with living for the Lord is because they are trying to do it with their own strength out of fear that failing to do "right" will cause them to lose the gift? It is only when we surrender to the indwelling Holy Spirit - recognizing that this is even how we can do the good works God has prepared for us - that we CAN live in holiness the life that brings glory to God. I life that is lived out of gratitude for His unspeakable gift! A gift that He promises He will NEVER rescind or let us lose. He will "in no wise cast us out" (John 6:37).
This is an unnecessary exercise in semantics brought about not by our theologies, but our dependence on English. Grace is a supernatural gift of God to intellectual creatures necessary for their eternal salvation. It is received as articulated in the Eucharistic Doxology' "Per ipsum, et cum ipso, et in ipso," (through Him, and with Him, and in Him).
Peace be to you.