GraceNotes Podcast

DEEP CLEANING (July 05, 2024)

Sometimes it seems all humanity is obsessed with removing stains from clothing, teeth, and even furniture.

Ten thousand products invoke our shame if teeth are not their “whitest white,” if clothes are not their “brightest bright,” or guests discover “unsightly carpet stains.”

Some thoughtful souls have wondered if our fascination with removing dirt that can be seen reflects our gnawing fear that we will never be free from stains no one can see—the soiled conscience, the unwashed heart, the muddied choices of a lifetime. 

Only one remedy has proved effective in cleansing what only God can see: “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). “And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting Him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water” (Heb 10:21-22).

The historic quest for inner purification, for purging the memory of foolish choices and polluted deeds, isn’t a task within our grasp. We can never “clean up our act.” Only God’s act of grace will do.

An old gospel song still says it best:

What can wash away my sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

What can make me whole again?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Let Jesus do what only He can do.

And stay in grace. -Bill Knott

A NEW AND BETTER LIFE (June 28, 2024)

If you believe your life has been rescued and redirected by a power greater than yourself, you live differently. 

One of the most frequent criticisms of the Bible’s teaching about how we are saved is the charge that because grace saves us “just as we are,” we stay “just as we were.” 

To some, grace looks easy, unremarkable, even cheap—a gift for those who don’t deserve it. Where is the historic space for human striving, effort, and obedience?  

But grace is not a freeze-frame moment that eliminates the potential—or need—for change. As we grow in gratitude for what Jesus has done for us, we discover that our primary attitudes and behaviors are changing as well.  “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into His likeness from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor 3.18). 

Getting what we don’t deserve really does produce a better life—one ultimately filled with “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23).

Nothing will change you more thoroughly than grace. 

So stay in it. -Bill Knott

WITHOUT A CAUSE (June 21, 2024)

In every place; in every time; among all cultures; with every clan; in youth or age; through wealth or poverty—human beings will underline how what they do unites their lives with God.

“It is my prayers,” the homeless woman says. “God saves me because I am persistent.”

“It is my giving,” the multi-billionaire asserts. “God saves me because I build good homes for those who can’t afford them.”

“It is my art,” the passionate young sculptor says. “God saves me because my art stirs thoughtful souls to pray and give.”

And yet, there was, there is, there will be no “because.” “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9).

Grace is the sweet announcement that we are reconciled to God out of the richness of His kindness. We pray, we give, we honor Him in art to share our thanks, not earn our way.

God loves from love: He doesn’t need persuading.

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

GRACE BECOMES US (June 14, 2024)

The mind in which grace lights a flame becomes, in time, a different mind. By nature and by nurture, we’re self-absorbed and focused on what brings us gain, what brings us fame. The path of least resistance leads us to our touted rights, and often—yes—our touted righteousness. We are the measure of all things: we sort and filter for what gives us points, what gives us power, what adds to our advantage. But when the grace of a supremely other-centered God breathes through the “heats of our desire,” the self-absorption starts to wane, and we begin to be the kinder, wiser souls we’ve sometimes ached to be. We hear the broken, and remember we were broken, too. We see the wounded, and we search for bandages of love. We touch the hurting with a gentleness learned from the Healer who never, ever hurries. Grace turns us from unhelpful fools into new humans, wise and warm. The grace that saves us also makes us gracious.

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

NEVER WITHOUT IT (June 07, 2024)

Could we ever live a day without the grace of God? 

That first breath you took this morning—perhaps the first one when you awoke—that breath had its beginning in the gracious act of God to fill your lungs and give you life. 

That first thought, in which you noted the beauty of the early sunlight bathing the yard with golden rays—that thought was the result of a marvelous biochemical chain of neurons lighting up your sleepy brain—all created by a gracious God. 

And even if all the distractions were removed—if all the contentious, stressful things could magically disappear from your today—your own thoughts would make you far from perfect. Jesus said, “For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. These are what defile you” (Matthew 5:19-20).

Grace is not a temporary fix when we need restoration and forgiveness. No less of it will be required when we leave off the greatest sins. 

Grace is God’s choice to hold broken, straying people like us in His arms—on our best days, and our worst. Grace is our constant need, and God’s forever gift. 

So stay in it. -Bill Knott

UNEXPECTED KINDNESS (May 31, 2024)

There’s no accounting for love.

Nothing in our calculations of expected human outcomes would lead us to predict the presence—or persistence—of kindness. We’ve learned through thousands of years of history to grimly rely on the awful realities of hate, of vengeance, of unrelenting cruelty—between clans, against other races, pitting nation against nation. These are our signature achievements as a species.

But what is it that motivates a billion daily acts of caring, of forgiveness, of refusing that dreadful narrative of blood and violence? Kindness seems unnatural because it isn’t in our nature as broken, wary, self-protecting people.

The Bible couldn’t be clearer about the origin of love. “In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). “We love because He first loved us”(1 John 4:19).

The grace that has always filled the heart of God is daily seen wherever people practice tenderness, protect the weak, and serve the good of others. It is rich evidence that the Father of all love will not abandon us.

Receive the love from which all kindness springs.

And stay in grace. -Bill Knott

UNEXPECTED KINDNESS (May 31, 2024)

UNEXPECTED KINDNESS 

There’s no accounting for love.  

Nothing in our calculations of expected human outcomes would lead us to predict the presence—or persistence—of kindness. We’ve learned through thousands of years of history to grimly rely on the awful realities of hate, of vengeance, of unrelenting cruelty—between clans, against other races, pitting nation against nation. These are our signature achievements as a species.  

But what is it that motivates a billion daily acts of caring, of forgiveness, of refusing that dreadful narrative of blood and violence? Kindness seems unnatural because it isn’t in our nature as broken, wary, self-protecting people.  

The Bible couldn’t be clearer about the origin of love. “In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). “We love because He first loved us”(1 John 4:19).  

The grace that has always filled the heart of God is daily seen wherever people practice tenderness, protect the weak, and serve the good of others. It is rich evidence that the Father of all love will not abandon us.  

Receive the love from which all kindness springs. And stay in grace. 

ANSWERING THE QUESTION (May 24, 2024)

What is God like?

It sounds like the question of a six-year old—honest; direct; no nuance. 

Simple as it sounds, it’s actually one of the most important questions in human history. From the dawn of recorded time, both peasants and philosophers have wrestled with the question.

Some cultures told themselves that He was angry and all-powerful. Others asserted that He was only one of many gods usually engaged in wrangling with each other. Still others claimed He is eternally inspecting our behavior, searching for any cause to deny us a forever home with Him.

Jesus answered the question for all time and for all people. “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” He told His followers. “The words I speak are not my own, but My Father who lives in Me does His work through Me” (John 14:9-10).

The kindness, the graciousness, the sacrificial spirit seen in Jesus are identically those of the Father. So the Bible declares, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus was giving us the ultimate picture of God: “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).

When you wonder if God is a friend or the ultimate enemy; when you doubt that He can forgive your brokenness and rebellion; when your heart aches to be loved and welcomed home—remember this: Jesus is the very image of the Father (Col 1:15).

And you will stay in grace. -Bill Knott

SINGING OUR SONG (May 17, 2024)

No one really wants to sing the blues. We only want to hear other people singing the blues.

It’s hard to believe that a homeless, hungry, abandoned soul would choose to write a song about it. Surviving takes all your energy. But listening to someone else lamenting their pretended sorrows somehow makes us feel better about our not-so-bad lives.

And yet of Jesus—our Redeemer—the Bible sings, “He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (Isa 53:3).

His suffering was no accident, no cruel twist of cosmic fate. “He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed” (Isa 53:5).

Grace was Christ’s choice to live our blues so that our destinies would be forever changed. Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

A new and hopeful song is yours. Grace still amazes.

So stay in it. -Bill Knott

RAGS TO RICHES (May 10, 2024)

We love our sugary success stories—the sweet and gripping fantasies we hope might someday happen to us.

“Mailroom clerk becomes company CEO.” “Out-of-luck waitress wins huge lottery.” “Overlooked teen becomes Hollywood megastar.” We quietly insert our names to secretly imagine the powerful, wealthy, famous life we wish was ours. We live vicariously their stories of success.

But when a loving God reached down to change our fates, He didn’t promise the penthouse office, a large portfolio, or millions of adoring fans. “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27).

The Lord of whom the Bible says, “He existed before anything else, and He holds all creation together” (Col 1:17), entered our story as the weakest of the weak—without status; without wealth; without popularity. And His success—stunning, cosmic, eternal—caused Him to die vicariously for us, in place of us, to heal our brokenness and pride.

“Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them” (2 Cor 5:14-15).

Grace revels in a victory we didn’t win, and celebrates a future only God could give us. And it’s no fantasy.

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

NOWHERE ELSE (May 03, 2024)

An old gospel hymn plaintively asks the question in the last line of each verse: “Where could I go but to the Lord?”

The hymnwriter noted the deep challenges of everyday life in a broken world. He deplored the lack of things he needed to make life even minimally comfortable. He wrestled with the ever-present temptation to give up on God’s call to a new life in Christ. At the end of the day—and at the end of the song—the answer to his rhetorical question was and always is—"Nowhere else.”

His line reminds us of the words of one of Jesus’ closest followers. At a moment when many “sunshine disciples” were turning away from Him, Jesus asked His disciples, “Will you also go away?” Peter spoke for the small number who remained: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

No combination of material things, cherished friends, or promises of personal achievement and business success can ever approach the value of the promise Jesus makes to all who put their trust in Him: “I have loved you with an everlasting love. That is why I have continued to be faithful to you” (Jer 31:3). “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8).

Grace is the refuge to which the wise always run. Be wise, and find the forever safety your heart craves.

And stay in grace. -Bill Knott

BETTER NEWS (April 26, 2024)

“That’s old news.”

In an information-obsessed world, that may be the ultimate put-down. Round-the clock—and endlessly repetitive—reporting crackles from hundreds of cable television channels. All-news radio stations compete for our ears when screens can’t have our eyes. Newspapers, which for two centuries held the world in thrall, now struggle with declining circulations because so much has changed in the eight hours between final edits and home delivery. The news they carry might now be “old.”

Before we greet the day, or our spouses—or the Lord—we scan our screens on smartphones and tablets, starving for the latest news of disasters near and far, scandals among the famous, and a world bristling with violence.

But the ultimate value of information is something other than urgency. Is it true? Is it relevant? And most importantly: Is it good—and good for us?

The Bible reminds us that the best news is often the oldest—the enduring truth that never ages: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them” (2 Cor 5:19). “God proves His love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).

That news has been around for centuries—two millennia, in fact. And nothing has diminished its truth, its relevance, and its essential goodness.

Grace is always timely—and enduring.

So stay in it. -Bill KNott