An End to Vengeance

Deep-seated in each wounded heart is passion to return the hurt, to even the score for how we have been wronged. Our quest for vengeance is as natural as breathing, or thinking—or sinning.

We feel the knife-blade of the cutting words; the dull ache of abandonment; the body blow of assaults upon our character. And sooner than we can imagine any other option, we poison-tip the arrows of our vengeance. It takes no effort—at all—to summon bitter words and deeds. Our tongues grow sharp; our hearts grow narrow; our bodies energize with hate.

And so the gospel of grace speaks to this most painful human reaction: “Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,” the Apostle Paul invites us, “just as God through Christ has forgiven you” (Eph 4:32). “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone,” he says. “Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Col 3:13).

Only the God who forgave us from the abundance of His grace can teach us to forgive with grace. No other ethic than His love will heal our wounds and make us leave revenge behind.

Grace is God’s healing for our wounds. We need not keep on wounding others.

So stay in grace.

—Bill Knott

Three Missing Words

Social media memes and reels solemnly declare that the hardest three words to say are the words “I love you.” Acknowledging our affection and commitment to another person—spouse, parent, child, or friend—is a moment of great vulnerability, and for some, even difficulty. And yet, the phrase is emblazoned on millions of T-shirts, shouted on billions of greeting cards, and declared in hundreds of TV shows and movies.

But if you asked, “Which three words are heard least frequently?” they would undoubtedly be, “I was wrong.” We can all imagine at least some advantages in saying “I love you.” There’s almost never an advantage in admitting our mistakes, our faults, our brokenness.

So God has wonderfully prepared the way for us to “come clean” with Him by assuring us ahead of time of His unending love and affection for us. “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jer 31:3), He says. And He teaches us that we may safely, confidently, bring to Him all our sins and foolish pride: “If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (1 John 1:9).

It will never be easy to say, “I was wrong.” But because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, grace gives us words that heal our broken relationships—with God and with each other 

So stay in grace.

—Bill Knott

Nothing Better

When the last kind word has vanished from our lips;

When the last rich gift has left our bank account;

When the last abandoned child has finally found a home—we still need grace.

When the hymns we sing are clear and sweet;

When we serve with fervor in the job we’re given;

When we’ve prayed for every relative we know—we still need grace.

The good things grace inspires us to do will not reduce our need for 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. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:8-10).

The gift of God, made freely through His Son, is never made unnecessary by how we live beyond. In Jesus’ famous parable, the ones who work from dawn, and those who start near dusk, all get the same reward.

So we confess—if we are young in faith or long upon our knees—that only Christ’s redeeming act ensures our destiny. There is no better gift than grace—to give or to receive.

So stay in it.

—Bill Knott

Morning Has Broken

When we’ve been wounded by the spitefulness of others, it’s grace that quiets our reactive hearts and calms our angry tongues.

We remember being forgiven, and so we can imagine offering forgiveness. The grace that reconciled us to God becomes the opening that makes new reconciliations thinkable.  

The foolish cycle of retaliation need not take another turn, for Jesus has absorbed the weight of all our anger, sin and pain.

A new day dawns in which forgiveness warms and brightens all we know. Grateful for love that changed our lives, we pray that others also change, find peace, experience forgiveness.

So forgiving comes to be our way of living, and grace leads on to grace.  

So stay in grace.

—Bill Knott

Outside and Above

The great illusion at the heart of our unhappiness is the fantasy that we can solve our brokenness and foolishness. 

A hundred self-help manuals urge us to discover new, untapped potential; find our core of optimism, rise above the litter of past choices. 

If even one of these vain remedies really worked, the bookstores would be empty, and people everywhere would be living warm, productive, joyful lives. 

But we continue fumbling in the bargain bin of last year’s over-hyped, self-centered strategies, while Jesus offers just one word. “Come,” He says. “Come away and rest awhile.” “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow.” “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you.” 

There are no better promises than these. There is no answer for our pain that heals us like God’s word of grace. 

Our rescue always comes from outside and above. 

So stay in grace.

—Bill Knott

Deep Cleaning

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answering the Question

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

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.

Rags to Riches

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

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

“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

The Greatest Mystery

A mother’s deep affection for her newborn child is completely understandable. The nine months they’ve spent journeying together—and a surge of maternal hormones—create an instant, fierce attraction to that red and wrinkled infant gazing solemnly into her eyes.

A young couple’s giddy delight in each other at the wedding altar is completely understandable. Months of shared memories and reverent promises have propelled them to this moment—along with a surge of powerful biochemicals. Nothing could be more natural.

A young soldier’s deep loyalty to the men who have battled alongside him, guarded his back, and rescued him in deepest danger is completely understandable. We were designed to show love back to those who first loved us.

But what explains God’s deep and fervent affection for millions of human beings who have never warmed to His attention, trusted in His promises, or appreciated His vigilant protection? There’s nothing natural—or understandable—about it. God chooses of His own marvelous free will to love those who ignore Him, seek those who consistently disobey His rules, and embrace those who crucified His Son. “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 4:20).

“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).

Receiving the gift of God’s persistent grace doesn’t mean that we can ever fully explain it or understand it. But go ahead: embrace the mystery.

And stay in grace.

Another Kind of Prodigal

What kind of person gets angry when a wretched, broken sinner is restored by the grace of God? Are there really people that selfish?

The answer, according to Jesus, is sadly “Yes”—and they sometimes congregate in churches. In Jesus’ famous story, an arrogant younger brother forces his father to liquidate the family holdings to fund his portion of the estate, yet finally comes to his senses while wrestling pigs for food in a far-off land. Broken by his foolish choices, he makes his best decision ever—to return to the always-open arms of the father. Grace stirs his heart; grace moves his feet; grace gives him words; grace draws him to his father’s arms.

But lurking on the margins is a man turned hideous by his angry rejection of the same grace that brought his younger brother home. Nothing can be given. Everything must be earned. The early bird is the righteous bird. Only the righteous bird deserves the worm. “All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to” (Luke 15:29) he snarls at his father. He cannot join the party, for only grace knows how to truly celebrate.

When prodigals come home; when broken lives get mended; when those most undeserving wear the Father’s ring and eat the Father’s food, graceless people show their true colors.

Don’t be surprised. And don’t let them ever keep you from coming fully home.

Stay in grace.

Unmerited

It’s usually said with a cynical smile and an eye roll: “My good deed did not go unpunished.” 

And it nicely sums up the exasperation we feel when life doesn’t seem fair, when hard work isn’t rewarded, when doing the right thing brings only more trouble and heartache. 

But what if the more accurate summary of our lives was actually the inverse: “My bad deeds did not get punished.” 

According to the Bible, our faith in Jesus means that we’ll never get what we deserve—and we will be deliriously happy with that outcome! “But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 5: 20-21).

Grace offers us believably good news: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5-6).

Let cynics retire. Let the saved rejoice. 

And stay in grace. 

-—Bill Knott

Morning has Broken

These hours between midnight and dawn test the patience of the world. We stumble through the hallways of dark houses. We seek companionship in all-night TV channels and books that used to put us to sleep. We hide from pain or grief that won’t let us close our eyes.

Why must dawn wait? Why must the hope of day stretch out so far away? If we could, we’d reach out and pull the first gray light of morning toward us–wrap ourselves in a little bit of hope and cheer. But dawn isn’t within our grasp.

Only one man in all history could bring the morning. Just one man could rightfully claim, “I am the light of the world.” Only Jesus could split the prison where we were chained in shame with the marvelous good news of grace and pardon and power and peace. Only He could triumph over death and hell, because only He had experienced—and broken—their power.

This hurting world of ours desperately needs the story of His resurrection. This dark planet, racked by war and ravaged by disease, cries out for the good news of that amazing sunrise.

Morning has broken, and goodness has won.

Celebrate the new life you’ve been given. And stay in grace.

–Bill Knott