GraceNotes Podcast

GIFTED AND GIVEN (March 31, 2023)

When moondust gathers on your boots, and you clutch a Nobel Prize; when you’ve led the Philharmonic, or you’ve rocked the Colosseum—you still need the gift of grace.  

When you’ve made uncounted billions, and a tower bears your name; when the friends at all your parties drive their custom Maseratis—you still need the gift of grace.  

When you’ve served the homeless strangers, and provided for the poor; when the offering plates at worship are all brimming with your gifts—you still need the gift of grace.  

And when your sins rise higher than that 100-story tower; when the glitterati leave and all the accolades are over; when you cry out for some solace and your spirit craves for peace—you still receive the gift of grace.  

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph 2:8-9). 

Nothing we accomplish can achieve what grace has done.  

So trust in Christ. And stay in grace.  -Bill Knott

THE GRACE THAT LIFTS (March 24, 2023)

If—for a moment—all that’s unseen could be seen; if we could trace the prayers of those who lift our names to God, we would be stunned and overwhelmed by love. There is no night so dark nor circumstance so grim that we could miss the arcs of prayerful comets climbing toward the heavens, carrying our names and needs.

God has His witnesses on earth—a parent; spouse; a long-forgotten friend—who lift their voices up to Him to plead for us—our health, our wealth, our wisdom, and our courage.

And they are heard because they love, for God who taught us how to love is moved by even murmured pleas. The grace that undergirds us all is mirrored in a billion prayers—for wars to cease; for hope to win; for prodigals still far from home; for parents struggling with disease; for friends who wrestle with despair.

We are more loved than we remember; more blessed than we can calculate. Grace moves among us, lit by prayer, to heal, to warm, to keep, to hold.  The lift you feel could well be someone loving you through prayer.

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

GRACE ONSTAGE (March 17, 2023)

“Write of the light,” the angel said. “The world has crouched in darkness for too long. The shadows multiply, as do the myths and monsters they invent. One sharp, clean shaft of light will welcome in the future.”

And so we write and talk of grace, especially when shadows crowd our little stage, and curtains warn the play might soon be ending. Anxieties will have their run: calamities of every kind remind us just how fragile is our script, how inconsistent our direction.

But there is One who holds the drama—and our futures—without care or worry, haste or fear. “He Himself is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col 1:17). And by His own description, He is love—unbounded, unconditional, eternal. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of all people” (John 1: 4). He is “the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17).

When there is nothing good to write of us, the grace of Christ heals what is wounded in our play and spotlights what He did to save us: “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them” (2 Cor 5:19).

As stage lights warm the final act, so fear succumbs to light and laughter. The drama on our stage becomes a story of redemption. And all the cheering at the end is the applause of angels.

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

GRACE AND FEAR (March 10, 2023)

‘‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear . . .

Each week, 10 million Christians raise a hymn in which so many puzzle at the words. How, in a canticle to grace, could anyone refer to fear as good, from which a useful lesson could be learned? But buried in “Amazing Grace” is a powerful reminder: the grace that ultimately warms and comforts us first makes us wretched and despairing.

Grace cannot thrive without the truth, and the unwelcome truth will drive each sinner’s heart to fear—cold, clutching fear: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Rom 3:23). “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). At the doorway of a new life hangs a sign that clearly states, “You were lost in your sins.” The good news of the gospel—of grace, forgiveness, and renewal—is only good in the presence of news that isn’t good. Your sin—my sin—however small or great we may imagine it to be, excludes us from the light and life of God’s eternal presence. Until we see this, know this, taste the bitterness of loss, we aren’t yet ready for His joy and restoration.

It is deep grace to glimpse our fate, and even more to know that we’ve been saved from it. Only the shadow of a cross will lift us from the shadows of our fears.

“And grace my fears relieved.”

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

CONTAGIOUS GRACE (March 03, 2023)

And there we were, the wretched ones, disguising all our anxious pain with skill a make-up artist must admire. We hid the sadness and the fear through years of practiced levity, with words like “Fine,” with worn-out jokes, with changes to the topic. 

But then the gospel reached our world with all its fearsome clarity and hope. And quick we saw that all our artifice was glass to the all-seeing eye of Grace. Somebody we knew had come to life, with joy abundant in their eyes, and gentleness in all their words. We watched new hope suffuse their souls, and saw rich playfulness return. Grace brought to life a wounded heart, and we began to hope that we might trade our dismal trudge for joy and peace and light and love.  

In them we saw; from them we heard: “God is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins. He has showered His kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding” (Eph 1:7-8). 

Grace moves among us, heart to heart, awakening our half-dead lives through kindness and example. The world is made all new again, one healed sinner at a time. 

So stay in grace.  -Bill Knott

FREE AND EQUAL (February 24, 2023)

As children, we would loudly boast: “I can run faster than you.“ “ I have more toys than you.” “I’m taller than you.”

Not much has changed. Now all grown-up, we quietly still boast:  “I pay someone to do my running for me.” “I have the bigger toys.” “I’m thinner/fitter/wealthier.”

We gain our value by comparing ourselves to those without acquired or natural advantages. We revel in what DNA or ancestors have lent us for a moment. 

But Jesus offers each of us a gift for which no bragging is allowed:  “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). No leap of faith is measured. No marathon of duty gets us closer to the goal. No list of good things done—or bad things left undone—adjusts our destiny.

Grace can’t be earned, is unavailable for sale, and never is inherited. Grace is God’s gift, and free to all who take it.

In God’s economy, I gain it all by faith in Him “who loved me and gave Himself to save me” (Gal 2:20)

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

NOTHING RANDOM ABOUT KINDNESS (February 17, 2023)

Why is it we find kindness in this broken, angry world? 

Despite the ugliness of violence and greed, we still see moments of breathtaking beauty and compassion.

A stranger gives a kidney to a dying 12-year old. A soldier shelters children terrified by war. A colleague holds a friend undone by stress. A spouse forgives, and pledges to rebuild.

Not one of these advances some advantage. None reflect the law of tooth and claw. We do these things because we still retain, however faintly, the image of our great and kind Creator.

His goodness flows through even those who do not claim His name. “We love each other because He loved us first“ (1 John 4:18). “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is given to us” (Rom 5:5).  The Spirit points toward Jesus who always shines: “And the light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out” (John 1:5).

So offer thanks whenever kindness meets you. But know the truth: there’s nothing random in it.

And stay in grace. -Bill Knott

THE WORK OF FAITH February 10, 2023)

Staying in grace is hard work in the same way resisting the pull of self-congratulation is hard work.

Our human nature loves to count: “I haven’t eaten chocolate for 12 days.” “I put 10 percent of my income in the offering plate at church.” “I’ve done five ‘random acts of kindness’ in three days.” We naturally crave applause from others, and most fatally, from ourselves.

Yet Jesus urges, “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing” (Matt 6:3).

Grace bids us put away our abacus, our calculators, and all algorithms of righteousness that start or end with us. The “work” of faith is learning to believe in Christ alone, and giving Him the glory for the healing of our lives.

The grace that saves us is the same great love that changes us. We look to Him, and not within.

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

COSTLY GRACE (February 03, 2023)

Just as there is no human life without oxygen, so there is no eternal life without the grace of Jesus. 

All other theories, strong and noble though they seem, are grand illusions that overestimate our goodness and underestimate God’s holiness. No string of sins avoided, or good deeds performed with vigor even start to bridge the gap between our lostness and His law. 

But forgiveness takes us where forgoing never can. 

Jesus loves us far too much to let us go on fooling others and ourselves about the cost of being saved. Only He can pay the price—and He has paid it all. 

We live with gratitude when we are sure of grace. 

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

GRACE BELOW THE EARS (January 27, 2023)

“And what is grace?” the preacher sings.

Then back five hundred voices drone: “Grace is undeserved favor. It does not stop; it does not waver.”

The choir sings a great “Amen.” And everyone goes home.

But has the gospel been delivered? More crucially, has it been heard? As commonly communicated, grace is an answer in a catechism, a distant theological abstraction, an idea we can safely leave alone.

Yet grace is needed in the parking lot—at church or at the grocery store—when someone darts into the space we’ve waited five long minutes for. And grace is vital in the boardroom—and the family room—where pride and jealousy are real. And grace is in a hundred unexpected moments when we are suddenly aware that we are loved—that broken, hurting folks like us—are precious to the God who made us and redeemed us. “He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins” (Eph 1:7).

If grace is only cognitive, and never gets below our ears, we miss its beauty and its power. The grace of God inhabits us, until are very selves are changed, and we become the love of Christ who saved us for no reason other than His love.

When we are loved, we live and breathe the grace of God. There is no greater joy than this. There is no better peace.

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

THE CHAIN OF GRACE (January 20, 2023)

If you are a believer, then you learned Christ from another believer. Your story—ups and downs and still unfinished—is still a testament to grace.

Someone loved you for no reason. Someone taught you the reality of the unseen world. Someone shared with you the power and efficacy of prayer. Someone built the confidence you have in Him who holds all things together.

Your shiny faith is the new link in a centuries-old chain of sharing that began when fishermen and tax collectors dropped nets and coins to follow after Jesus.

So pause today to thank the risen Lord for grace that came to you through kindness from a modern-day disciple. And then, be like the one who shared their faith with you. Keep adding links: keep adding hope. For this chain is the symbol of unfettered joy and freedom.

And stay in grace. -Bill Knott

THE MASTER MOSAIC (January 13, 2023)

The broken fragments of our days are red and ragged, wet with tears. The job ungained; the love undone; the hard, dull ache of illness in the body or the soul. We see no pattern in the pain; we find no solace in the rain. 

But there is One with cosmic grace who sees each piece for what it shows of His uncanny and redeeming power. And in the long, slow masterpiece He builds, He fits the fragments of our hours with skill so great and eye so fine that even we, unlucky we, will call it good, will call it fair. “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them” (Rom 8:28). 

For what we come to call our “faith” will trace what unfaith never sees—that there is meaning in the picture—that what we thought our greatest grief has now become His center stone. God finds a use for every chip; there is no waste in all His artistry. “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psa 90:12). 

None but the Artist of our lives could make of all our brokenness a fitting temple to His will: mosaics need a long, slow skill. Grace is not finished with us yet: there is more beauty to appear.  Another, better day will dawn. 

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott