"The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made" (Psalm 145:9). Many theologians refer to this as common grace. That's not because grace is common, but it is common to all mankind. The line is drawn between common grace and saving grace. Common grace restrains evil, gives people time to repent, provides fruitful seasons and food, and many other benefits that are common to all mankind.
Bruce Demarest wrote, "In sum, God's common grace facilitates that sustains and enhances life on a fallen planet." This planet is morally fallen with the sin of all mankind. While judgment is coming, until then God's common grace sustains the world in which we live.
Abraham Kuyper recognized common grace as primarily restraining sin. He wrote, "By His common grace God bridles the evil of fallen human nature, restrains the ruin which sin has produced and spread, and enables even the unregenerated men to do good in the broad non-redemptive sense." God shows common grace even to those who reject God's goodness and compassion. They falsely believe there is no God who will judge them.
God is temporally the Savior of all mankind in common grace. "God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe" (1 Timothy 4:10). However, the time of God's common grace will end for those who reject his saving grace in Christ. It will happen in the day when this present earth and sky will be aflame in God's justice and judgment on sin. To the contrary, saving grace in Christ Jesus our Lord is everlasting.
