Back in January, I made a mistake that I’ve been paying for it ever since.

I’ve had a credit card for years—decades, really. I put just about everything* on that card: insurance, healthcare payments, subscriptions, gas, and all our ordinary shopping. It’s a simple way to consolidate my spending records. I rarely carry cash and use the card wherever it’s accepted without an added fee. If it’s the same price for cash or credit, I figure I may as well get 1% back (5% for gas and groceries, 2% for travel) rather than leave money on the table. Then at the end of the month, I get one consolidated bill with most of my expenses listed out, and I stroke one check—for the entire balance every month. It’s worked flawlessly for almost 30 years.

Except this past January, for the first time in three decades, I missed a payment. When the February online statement came, there was a whopping $70.18 interest charge. OUCH. I immediately paid the balance in full and made sure to stay on top of things the next month. Problem solved, right?

Not quite. this month, when I checked my statement, I was hit with another interest charge—this time $92.75. DOUBLE OUCH. We had made some major purchases including airline tickets to Germany. How could that be? I had paid everything on time! In fact, just to be safe, I even put down a little extra.

I called customer service and got connected to Chris. I explained the situation, emphasizing that I’ve never missed a payment in all these years and asked why, if I paid my bill in full, did I get another interest charge?

Chris responded calmly, “Well, you’re out of grace. Your grace period has been suspended.”

That didn’t make any sense. “What do you mean, I’m ‘out of grace?’” I asked.

He explained, “Whenever you purchase something with a credit card, interest starts to accrue the moment you purchase it. Normally, if you pay the full balance by the due date, that interest isn’t applied. But if you miss a payment—even just once—you lose your grace period. After that, interest is applied to every new purchase until your grace period resets.”

I was still confused. “So, how do I reset it? I paid the balance in full!”

“Just paying off your card on time isn’t enough.” He said, “You have to pay off your balance completely and then not make any charges for an entire billing cycle. Once you’ve have no charges for a month and therefore no interest accrued, you’re back in grace.”

I had just checked online that morning, so I pulled it back up to see if there had been any activity in the new billing cycle. Sure enough, there it was—a $2.99 recurring charge from Apple for my online data storage.

“I just got the statement this morning,” I protested. “Can I pay it off now?”

“No,” Chris replied. “That charge is already accruing interest, so you’ll be charged interest on every charge this month.”

I was getting frustrated. “So, what if I put $10,000 down on this card right now?”

“I’m sorry, sir,” he said. “You can’t prepay interest. You’d still be out of grace. You’ll have to wait another month to get back in grace.”

“Do you know how many automatic and recurring charges I have on this card?” I asked. “It’s linked to every app and subscription I have. You’re telling me I have to stop every single charge for an entire billing cycle before you’ll stop charging me interest and if one slips by, I have to pay interest and wait another month?”

“Yes, that’s correct,” Chris confirmed.

“So this is how credit card companies trap people,” I fumed. “I’m not mad at you, Chris. I know you’re just a cog in the machine. But do you see how hard this would be for someone without resources? They might never get on top of this.”

Chris sounded weary, like he had heard all this before. “I understand your concerns, sir. I can’t give you financial advice. But until you reset your grace period, you’ll be charged interest.”

Frustrated, I hung up the phone, froze the account, cashed out my $1,200 of accrued reward cash, paid the small remaining balance and canceled the card. Then I spent the better part of Friday night tracking down a dozen recurring charges so nothing would bounce in the next month.

Grace with No Strings Attached

That whole experience left me angry and frustrated. It wasn’t the first interest charge… after all, I had missed a payment—it was the deceit, the senseless or even intentional red tape.  I’m sure all of this was buried in those 5 pages of small print they sent 15 years ago… but even so it seemed really unfair.

But later that evening, a spiritual parallel became clear: This whole mess is a perfect example of how God’s grace is entirely different from the world’s version. The credit card company’s so-called “grace period” was nothing more than a temporary privilege that could be yanked away with one mistake. Once you fall out of favor, good luck. You’re stuck jumping through endless hoops to try to earn it back.

But that’s not how God’s grace works. God doesn’t dangle grace in front of us like a carrot on a stick, demanding that we meet a list of conditions to earn it back. His grace isn’t revoked because we messed up. It’s not dependent on how well we manage our spiritual “account” or whether we make payments on time. God’s grace is really, truly free.

Paul wrote in Romans 5:20, “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” God’s grace is lavish, unearned, and unending. Once you’re in His grace, you’re never out of it—no matter how badly you stumble. You can’t prepay it, out-give it, or run out of it. Jesus paid the whole debt, and when He cried, “It is finished,” the account was settled once and for all.

Maybe you’re living with the sense that you’ve fallen out of grace—that you’ve made too many mistakes to be back in God’s favor. Or maybe your spiritual life is consumed in trying to earn His favor. Don’t buy the lie that you have to work your way back. Rest in the truth that God’s grace isn’t tied to your performance or your record. It’s not a revolving door. It’s a wide-open invitation to live in the freedom Jesus bought for you.

The credit card trap is an ugly reminder of how the world operates—grace with strings attached, which isn’t grace at all. But God’s grace? It’s free, it’s abundant, and it never runs out. You don’t have to earn it. You just have to accept it. And that’s the best line of credit you’ll ever receive.

*I DON’T use credit cards at local farm stands, for charitable giving or for my tithe to Bethany. It’s astounding how many merchant fees credit card companies charge.  If you want maximum bang for your charitable buck, don’t use a credit card!  This is a free Public Service Announcement.