However, what you have written so far is quite similar to what I just read in a book titled "Spiritual Combat Revisited." To quote, "The [Catholic] Church understands this [James 1: 17] to mean that left to ourselves, we cannot please God and inherit eternal life." Also, "There is a tendency we all have to claim our good actions as our own and the bad things we do as not pertaining to ourselves in the same way. The truth is the reverse: The good things we do are the result of God's grace and mercy, and the evil things we do are the sign of what we really are."
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.