The Unexpected Gospel

A muscular young athlete, bench-pressing massive iron; stonemasons, deeply-focused, chiseling the capstone for a tall cathedral spire; a driven young executive, burning midnight oil as she assesses market data.

What do these pictures have in common? All celebrate intense, prodigious effort, spent to take the doer to the top in sport, in craftsmanship, in business.

Our world’s awash in images like these: they are the icons of our functional religion. We learn so early to depend on no one else’s effort. Faith, we say, is chiefly what you think about yourself.

And so we are unsettled by the unexpected gospel: “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph 2:8-9).

When there is nothing we can do; when “all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death”; when we at last despair of scaling heaven by our sweat or skill or passion, grace given us in Jesus speaks for us, embraces us, and binds us to the heart of God.

Grace honors only trust, and welcomes only gratitude.

So stay in it.

—Bill Knott

Practicing Grace

It’s not called “practicing” for nothing.

On some great future day, the liberating, life-affirming grace we each receive from Jesus will also be the grace we give as freely to those who wound us, irritate our peace, or call out for our love and care.

Between the “now” and “then” there’s a lot of practicing to do—a daily repetition of kind words, forgiving acts, and chosen, holy silences. Like hours we spent as children with pianos, violins, and flutes, we learn the patterns of the Jesus life—not all at once, but with increasing Spirit-skill.

On many days, we get the fingering all wrong: we point unrighteously at those who really need our grasp and our embrace. But just because the grace that saves us keeps on saving us from us, we build up skills in loving, holding, healing, helping.

Great music—gracious music—is never perfect on day one.

Keep practicing. And stay in grace.

—Bill Knott

Grace Goes On

If you’ve ever been forgiven; if you’ve been held when you were wrong, or bitter, or confused—you know the grace that never can repay the giver. 

So we surrender to the goodness God implants in human hearts. “We know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love” (Rom 5:5). 

We come to understand God’s grace when we are loved extravagantly, without apparent cause, and with no expectation of response. We vow with everything within that we will love as we’ve been loved—without return; without reward; just for the Lord. 

This “common grace” is strikingly uncommon, but always welcome, always valued, and indelibly remembered. “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7).

The grace that reached to you now reaches from you to the loveless, the careless, and the thoughtless. Grace never was for you alone. 

Keep giving grace. 

And it will stay with you. 

—Bill Knott

Out of the Depths

“When I’m deep in a hole, lower a rope, not a shovel.”

The last thing we need when we’ve dug ourselves profoundly into pain or confusion or sin is more of the same. Our best efforts got us there: our best efforts won’t deliver us. The pit only gets deeper—and so does our frustration. As Scripture says, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (Prov 14:12). 

Rescue only comes from above—from Someone who both sees our plight and can do something to change it. God’s Word reveals that Jesus fully understands how desperate our condition is—and He—uniquely—can change the ending of our story: “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Heb 4:15-16). 

Common sense can tell us to stop digging. Wisdom urges us to accept the grace that doesn’t leave us where we are. “He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God” (Psa 40:2-3).

Let yourself be lifted. 

And stay in grace.

—Bill Knott

No January Audit

It’s a scene played out 10 million times in the 30 days since Christmas: “You shouldn’t have . . .” “But I didn’t get you anything. . .” “I didn’t hear we were exchanging gifts . . .”

A stranger from another planet might conclude that our annual Christmas gift-giving is actually an exquisite balancing act—designed to keep each party from feeling awkward for having received an unreciprocated gift. We desperately dislike the sense that accepting kindness creates an obligation we must rapidly erase.

Thus every January we work diligently to restore the “giving equilibrium.” We send overnight parcels, repurposed fruitcakes, and texts that wonder how our long-planned gift was so “delayed” in the delivery system. We were busy; overwhelmed; “things slipped our memory.”

But grace is truly, freely, and persistently a gift—and not a trade we make with God by which He offers us salvation and we offer Him good behavior. The Bible couldn’t be clearer: “So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. He 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 1:6-8).

If it’s really grace, you will always feel awkward about your inability to give God something comparable. Get used to it.

And stay in grace.

—Mailchimp

Grace Before We Pray

That impulse in our souls to pray—to find our knees; to stammer out the words—grows from an early, dim awareness of just how much we need the grace of God.

We pray because we cannot fix our world or ourselves. We kneel because we’re powerless to heal sick children, pay the bills, or mend unhealthy marriages. We call out as we weep for all the clash between our living and God’s giving.

And even that first impulse is itself a gift of grace: “For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom 8:26).

To pray is to align with grace—to ask for and invite “the Love that will not let us go” to have more sway, more rule, more reach, more play. And so the simplest prayers are always best: “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner” unblocks the flow of saving grace that restores lives and reforms nations.

What we call grace is simply letting God do what has always been His joy to do: love us, hold us; heal us; keep us. We are latecomers to His kindness. Grace precedes our first impulse to seek it.

Now stay in it.

—Bill Knott

Grace Will Lead Us Home

Like all the stories Jesus told, this one comes very close to home.

We justly celebrate the prodigal (Luke 15:11-32). He finds himself among the pigs, then soberly concludes that he should go back home. And we deplore that bitter brother whose body never left the farm, but whose hard heart had left the Father long ago.

Unlike each other as they seem, both shared a common malady. Neither prized the love that gave them birth, that nurtured them 10,000 days, that waited—on the porch and at the table—to see if love would change their lives.

Misunderstanding grace is not related to how far you roam. This story proves that you can miss it, even if you stay at home.

 Of Jesus, Scripture testifies that “He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household” (Eph 2:17-19).

Grace offers us a family, even when our stories are miles apart. The waiting Father’s heart of love still calls each of His children home.  

Heed the call to join the feast. And stay in grace.

—Bill Knott

Unresolved

The diet lasts a dozen days. The treadmill hasn’t spun 10 miles. The Bible sits where it was left, unopened and unsavored.  We grieve the effortless unraveling of all the goals we wanted to achieve—to lose the weight; increase the steps; find hope and quiet in God’s Word.  

We are too close to dreams undone, to lofty visions gone awry.

So how does God address our lack of grit and gratitude? 

“I will be faithful to you and make you Mine, and you will finally know Me as the Lord,” God says (Hosea 2:20). “He knows our frame,” the psalmist says. “He remembers we are dust” (Psa 103:14).

And so Christ came, to walk our dust, to know our pain, to understand how irresolute we are.  “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin” (Heb 4:15).

Grace always moves toward us, redeems our goals, and tells us we are loved.  We fall in step with One who holds us when we stumble.  He is resolved when we are not, and faithful when we wander.

Receive His strength.  And stay in grace.

—Bill Knott

Love Came Down

This painful year has made us clear on what we want for Christmas. Though Lexus and Mercedes-Benz are sure we want a gleaming ride with giant ribbons on the roof, we have no miles we want to drive. The ads all tease us with dark fantasies on Amazon or Netflix, but we still have our darkness to get through. The tech toys that we bought for sport have only one compelling use this year.

We want each other more than gifts. We want the long and lingering embrace of two-year olds who won’t let go; the bear hug from a distant friend; the real gatherings of real folk around a tree, a table, or a fire. We want the laughter never muted, carols sung by families on nights no longer silent. We want the deep security we find in holding, playing, eating with the ones we love in places we call home.

So Christ came down because He couldn’t bear the breach of space; the distance numbered in light-years; the loving words half-understood. He came to us in helplessness so we might know He needed love—our love, the warmth for which He fashioned us. He laid aside His rulership so that a two-year old could grip Him tight; a mother’s tears could turn to joy, and bitter, broken men could heal. He came to make the lepers dance; to be the face the blind first saw; to hear the deaf sing harmony.

His joy is us: we are the only gift He wants.

Accept the gift of His embrace. And stay in grace.

—Bill Knott

What the Angel Really Said

Ten thousand earnest Christmas pageants offer us some cherub child, dressed as an angel, stepping forth to utter words that sound well-nigh impossible.

“Fear not,” he says, “for behold I bring you tidings of great joy.” (Luke 2:10).

“Fear not?” we think, but never say. “Does God not know our real lives?” That declaration echoing through centuries has shaped how many think of God. We think He’s chiding us for being quite normally afraid of that which ought to terrify—a brilliant light; an other-worldly stranger shouting in the night; the loudest, largest choir Earth has ever heard.

Now hear what that sweet angel really said: “You can stop being afraid now.”

For fear quite naturally results when humans meet the otherness of God and those He sends to share good news. The birth of Jesus was the broadcast we have all been waiting for: we need no longer be afraid.

Whatever views we’ve held of God; whatever fears have made us doubt His kindness or His goodness, Jesus is the living proof that there’s no reason to continue in our fear.

This Christmas, thank God for the grace that lights our midnights and will calm each anxious fear. You can stop being afraid now.

And stay in grace.

—Bill Knott

Against All Odds

It isn’t only doubters who bemoan the passing year.

Believers also crouch against the onslaught of the news. Tragic wars that never end; the end of good and gentle folk; the dull monotony of pain that robs our midnight of its sleep.

And one more baby, born into a world where thousands never see one week.  

But here we witness Heaven’s great surprise. In weakness was obscured great strength. That fragile child—He once threw galaxies around, and knows their numbers, range and size. The painful moment of His birth let loose a tide of healing that forever changed the meaning of our pain and how we get through midnights.

He laid His hands upon the broken; He overturned the fortunes of the greedy; and in His name, a thousand tyrants fled into the night. Because He lived—because He lives—our mangled world began, at last, to breathe again, to hope again.

For sake of grace, the dread of God—or many gods—became as Heaven wanted it, a friendship rich with joy and light. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

This Christmas, let the hope once born with Jesus raise your heart and calm your fears. This Child we celebrate is still the Lord—the Master of uncounted years.

And stay in grace.

—Bill Knott

The Eagerness of Love

An old regulation from the era when most people traveled by train included this puzzling requirement: “When two trains approach a crossing both shall stop, and neither shall go ahead until the other has passed by.”

The long-ago rule is, of course, a prescription for neither movement nor change. But it sounds just like the ways we all behave when we find ourselves in conflict with someone: neither of us will move until the other has moved first.

Nations face off with arsenals of bristling armaments; religious groups invoke mutual condemnations for differing beliefs; spouses live in icy tension, waiting for the other to thaw. 

In His mercy, God didn’t wait for us to move first. “God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Rom 5:8). Before we ever had a righteous thought or even wanted to be reconciled to God, Jesus offered Himself as the initiator, the peacemaker, the One who would move first.

Grace always moves first. God doesn’t wait for our apologies or repentance to step forward with forgiveness and embrace. The love and joy we crave is always moving toward us.

When it reaches you, receive it.

And stay in grace.

—Bill Knott

With Gratitude, Believe

It is likely the oldest question humanity has ever asked: “What must we do to perform the works of God?”  

And for millennia, honest, searching people have provided their own answers to the question. Magnificent temples and cathedrals have been built; exquisite liturgies have been composed; amazing acts of kindness have unfolded—all in the hope God would be pleased with the work, the toil, the effort, the prayers.  

But when the question was put to the One whom the Bible calls the Son of God, “Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent’” (John 6:29).

He who flung the galaxies for joy, who holds this tiny blue-green planet in His warm embrace—He doesn’t need our sweat and toil. What brings Him happiness is when we choose—in love, through grace, with gratitude—to place our trust in heaven’s greatest gift: “God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:17).

Grace moves us to believe, and only then, to act. What work we do through faith in Christ grows from our gratitude. 

So stay in grace. 

—Bill Knott

Hope Takes Flight

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.”

The poet’s words from long ago ring true each dawn. It may be finches perching on the feeder; it might be pigeons cooing on some ledge; it could be sparrows clustered on an edge. But somehow, with the rising light, our spirits rise as we discover that God’s world is moving, warming, singing once again. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

Against the midnight of our fears, we hear the Lover of our souls: “Not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. . . . So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows” (Matt 10:29, 31).

Grace sings because hope is embedded in our hearts. The God who formed us planted a great yearning for redemption deep within—a core belief that we may yet find joy and song by leaning forward to His day.

Step into light. Pick up the tune. God gave us hope: His name is Jesus.

And stay in grace.

—Bill Knott

Good News Arriving

We are not alone . . .

Depending on how you see the universe, that thought could bring you comfort—or deep terror.

If you view everything beyond your fence as threat, as something to be feared, you’ll spend your days defending only what you already have and what you’ve previously learned.

But if, through grace, you can be open to a world where love and beauty grow and blossom, you will taste joy—the joy for which God made you. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’” (Isa 52:7).

Grace is a declaration that we have been befriended by the One who rules the universe. The greatest Other who ever was became one of us, one with us, one on our side. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Jesus is the living proof that we are not alone, and never need be so again.

So stay in grace.

When Grace Finds You

The mystery is that grace still finds us, hidden well beneath the cellar stairs—angry, broken, sinful, sad.

When we’ve crawled into our painful cave to lick our wounds or plot revenge, we hear the footsteps on the stair. We hear the sound of Jesus’ gentle laughter: “You can stop being afraid now. All-y, all-y—yes—in free!”

The games are finally over. When grace comes seeking you, there’s no more need to hide. What’s wounded starts to heal. Your past all gets forgiven. The lonely all get friended.  

Today, get found: step out into the light. Enjoy the life you’ve always sought.

And stay in grace.

—Bill Knott

With Open Hands

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

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

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

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