GraceNotes Podcast

WITH OPEN HANDS (November 01, 2024)

Nothing in all the world is as wonderful as a gift.

It may be the sunrise, wrapped in rose and gold, delivered to our eastern window.

It may be the stick-figure drawing by a three year-old that bears the ribbon, “I love you, Mommy.”

It may be the unexpected offer of the trip we’ve always dreamed of, to that place we sense has always been our home.

Gifts make us conscious of the love beyond ourselves—the deep, rich kindness in the heart of God.

“For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:22-24).

What but our foolish pride could keep us from enjoying God’s good gift? It’s not our worthiness that matters: it is His great, untiring love that moves Him to keep giving. “God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done” (Eph 2:8-9).

So open up your hands, your heart. Receive the grace Christ offers.

And stay in it. -Bill Knott

 

GREATER THAN EXPECTED (October 25, 2024)

As four-year olds, we squabble over things we say that we deserve—first down the slide; the largest piece of chocolate cake; the undivided attention of our parents.

At fourteen, we insist that we deserve at least what others have—a new smartphone; the latest gaming platform; a curfew later than our siblings.

By 44, we vie for corner offices; subordinates who do our bidding; a happiness we assume is ours by right or through hard work.

But in our hearts, we know the truth: we don’t want what our lives deserve. The litter of bad choices swirls through our hollow claims. The memories of mistakes everyone knows—and those nobody knows—belie our claims to honor and to fame.

The apostle Paul spoke truth for all of us: “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t” (Rom 7:18).

And though God’s Word reveals unflattering truth about our real lives, it offers unexpectedly good news about what’s offered us. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23).

Don’t claim what you deserve. Accept the grace you’re given.

And stay in it. -Bill Knott

NOTHING WE DID (October 19, 2024)

Before we ever learn to speak or find some syllables of thought, we learn that how we’re loved depends on how we live.

As infants, we adapted to what brought us comfort and attention. As teens, we found affection best by mimicking what offered hope of friendship. And though we’ve grown in years and size, we still build contracts meant to bring us love. The world teaches us that love comes with conditions. 

Just here the gospel shines so bright: “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Eph 2:4-5).

God’s care for us is not proportionate to our good thoughts or choices. He doesn’t wait for our  best lives before He offers His embrace. “God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:17).

And even when we get it wrong, His love won’t be deflected. We cannot earn what He so gladly gives. We cannot lose the love we never caused.

Now stay in grace. -Bill Knott

BAPTIZE US ANEW (October 11, 2024)

Every day beside the Jordan, can you hear the “hallelujahs”? Can you hear the joy of angels in their vast, euphoric choir as you give your life—again—to Jesus and walk down into the water?

Can you feel the hug of heaven as you leave your past behind you—leave your sins and all your merits, held by grace and grace alone?

Can you hear the words cascading: “This one’s Mine, My lovely child, of whom I’m so greatly proud”? Do you sense the great affection of the Father who will not be turned away by sin—in your past, your now, your future?

Ah, the washing, the renewing that restores a dry disciple! Spend some moments, washed and steadied, in the sand beside the river, hearing heaven’s affirmation of your choice to follow Jesus.

Jordan’s bank is sacred space. Come here often: stay in grace. – Bill Knott

THE GRACE THAT STAYS WITH US (October 04, 2024)

Grace is rarely just a moment; more often, a long season; and ideally, your forever reality.

We focus on the moment when a person comes to faith in Christ as though that were the starting of the story: “I was saved at 6:14 p.m., on Sunday night, May 5.” But we at length discover how our eyes were truly opened—how the Spirit had been softening our hearts, erasing our old prejudices, and nudging us toward faith—all to bring about that moment of decision. All that God did was surely grace—before we ever came to “Yes!”

And starting points are never all the journey, important as they are. By staying in His grace, we find the power of Jesus to both save us and to change us—to take away the guilt-stained past, and keep us from much future foolishness and pain.

Grace working over time is just as fully undeserved—and unexpected—favor as that sweet moment when we welcomed Christ and all He gives. “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6).

Grace is the word that best describes a forever friendship with Jesus.

So stay in it. -Bill Knott

A FRIENDLY SORT OF GRACE (September 27, 2024)

We search for friends with whom to share the deepest joys we know. Our happiness is multiplied by those who join our gladness.

But friendship rests on more than witty fun or shared experience. We form a kind of covenant that pledges virtues we can’t naturally produce: “I’ll stay with you through hard times. I’ll hear you when you’re sad. I’ll walk with you in silence—when you need no extra words.”

These are the qualities of grace—a grace we only learn by witnessing the love that comes from God. Left to ourselves, our friendships would deteriorate, for pride and ego never last. “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16). “If we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is brought to full expression in us” (1 John 4.11).

This giving generosity of God is what we know as grace. And when we share it with our peers, we watch relationships expand, grow deep, and anchor us in storms.

The friend who brings you joy is one more evidence of grace.

So stay in it. -Bill Knott

A BETTER IMAGE (September 20, 2024)

At least once a day, we want the truth about ourselves.

Whether it’s that first, unflattering glimpse of pajamas and tousled hair, or that last, nervous glance in the office washroom before the big job interview, we rely on mirrors to give us unflinchingly honest reflections of what we really look like. A mirror that doesn’t reflect reality evokes laughter at a carnival or praises some vain fairytale character.

God has a mirror too, and He offers it so we can learn the truth about our real condition. His law—an accurate description of His character and kingdom—shows us how unlike Him we are—the fearsome truth about our vanity; our greed; our hurtful attempts to control and use each other.

“No one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands,” the Bible tells us. “The law simply shows us how sinful we are” (Rom 3:20).

 “Oh, what a miserable person I am!” the apostle Paul exclaimed when he saw his own reflection. “Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” (Rom 7:24).

Gratefully, Paul answered his own desperate question. “God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Cor 5:21).

Grace is the way God sees us when we put our trust in Jesus. He reflects His Father’s image—and His law—perfectly.

You’re looking better already.

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

RELEASED FROM FEAR (September 13, 2024)

Fear builds around us prisons only we can see. We peer out through the bars of damaged memories and foolish choices—walled in by concrete years of dark regrets. And we assume the sentence is for life.

But then one day there is a rattling at the door; keys open up a rusty lock. The cell in which we kept ourselves more rigidly than any jail is opened by a word of grace. “Your sins are forgiven you,” says the Lord who vowed to open every prison door.

The sentence is commuted, and yes, the record is expunged. “As far as the east is from the west so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Ps 103:12).

We walk out in the light of grace—amazed at freedom we have never known, and breathing in the oxygen of hope. This is the genius of the gospel, and why this story always liberates.

Walk out of fear, but stay in grace. -Bill Knott

TRUSTING GRACE (September 06, 2024)

The Bible doesn’t say, “By grit you have been saved through effort: this is your part. It is your gift to God.” But tragically, many who say they believe in Jesus hold this old falsehood closer than they grasp the truth: “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8-9).

We strain to earn what Jesus freely gives, all unaware He wants to change our attitudes even more than our behavior. Grace teaches us to trust, and “trust” is yet another word for “faith.”

What we give up when we rely on Christ is much more than our taste for fatty foods or hours wasted on the Web: we give up fantasies that sweat and intelligent self-will will ever make us worthy of eternity.

The One who cannot lie says “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jer 31:3). With such affection, broad and deep, we are encircled and enabled.

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

BEYOND TOMORROW (August 30, 2024)

A hit song many years ago plaintively asked the question on millions of minds: “Will you still love me tomorrow?”

The fragility and impermanence of human love has chorused through the centuries—in every culture, in every region. Something in the human heart cannot keep a covenant. Despite romantic wedding decorations and elaborate commitment rituals, we fail to keep our promises to always act with love and care toward even that one person we are most attracted to.

Which is why the original Lover of our souls took pains to assure us that His love and grace don’t depend on promises as weak as ours. “‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. ‘And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine’” (Isa 55:8). “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

The gift of Jesus, sent in grace to take our place, is the enduring sign of God’s permanent affection—even for those who reject His love. “God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Rom 5:8).

The answer to our chronic insecurity about love is the song that all who put their faith in Jesus will one day sing: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev 5:12).

It’s a love that never stops. And it’s a song that never ends.

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

THE QUESTION THAT REMAINS (August 23, 2024)

“Do you want to be healed?”

At first, it seems one of the world’s most foolish questions. What person, paralyzed for 38 years, wouldn’t leap at any chance for healing and renewal?

But Jesus asked it anyway, for grace never overwhelms our choices. Like that long-ago disabled man beside a Jerusalem pool, we each live in the confines of a private prison, often built by foolish choices. Friendships broke under the strain of angry things we said; health was compromised by anesthetics we consumed to hide our physical and emotional pain. Pride kept us distant from the love that would have healed us.

But Jesus still goes walking by the pool, quietly repeating His famous question. “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the Lord: ‘though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isa 1:18).

Grace never demands; never insists; never removes our power to choose. We can, if we wish, remain in our pain.

Or we can accept the healing that grace still offers and rise to “walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4).

Rise. Walk. And stay in grace. -Bill Knott

WHERE HAPPINESS AWAITS (August 16, 2024)

Contented? Not likely.

Vast majorities describe themselves as discontented, always seeking for what’s missing. Entire industries are engineered for keeping us that way.

Algorithms cleverly exploit our fears and passions to keep us always scrolling. News outlets need us anxious about the crises that might happen. And—we’re told—we’ll be unsettled and unhappy. Inflation will eat up our paychecks; rising tides will claim our coastlands; hackers will discover passwords. So purchase many layers of things to keep yourself protected.

Yet God’s good Word is always our corrective: “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out” (1 Tim 6: 6-7).

Grace quiets what has always been our great anxiety—that God will turn His back, will cast us off, will give us only what we have deserved. In Jesus, heaven calmed our deepest fear: “For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17).

Those who most inhabit grace are always most contented. Mercy shown them soon becomes the mercy they show others. Friendships flourish; families strengthen. Anxious thoughts are quieted by God’s enduring promise.

Make peace with grace, and you will surely stay in it. -Bill Knott