GraceNotes Podcast

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GraceNotes is a weekly publication of Bill Knott, former Editor/Executive Publisher of Adventist Review/Adventist World magazines. Take the opportunity to share a favorite GraceNote from this page with someone you’re praying for, or someone who simply needs to hear the good news of God’s unfailing love.

17H AGO

TOO GOOD TO BE FALSE (February 27, 2026)

It’s the critic’s counterclaim, the “faithful doubter’s” last redoubt: “Say less about the grace of God, and more of human duty.” Afraid that others may secure by gift what they haven’t won by long, intensive effort, persistent voices challenge those who speak and preach of grace. “You make it all too easy,” they complain. “Where’s the struggle, pain, and sacrifice? Where are the nights of deep uncertainty when you despair of ever being right with God?” There’s just one answer for such fears, and it originated in the mind of God: “God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God” (Eph 2:8). Only the Word that comes from God can overcome the human pride that needs its efforts recognized. The apostle Paul, filled with the truth that rests in God, emphatically declared: “For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law” (Rom 3:28). Those who truly grasp God’s grace are never slow to live His love. The life of holiness begins when we receive what we can never earn. So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

2 min
FEB 19

GRACE GIVEN, AND NOT LENT (February 20, 2026)

Grace seems to fail a million times an hour. In every place where mercy isn’t honored and accepted, grace appears an unwise use of heaven’s kindness and forgiveness. Hard hearts chill with chosen hate. Clenched hands will not open to the gift. Death and dryness multiply. But grace is never limited by how it is received. Like some deep-hidden spring whose source cannot be found, grace flows to sinners and to saints, without regard to worthiness. Some are only temporarily dampened by the flow, but remain defiantly unchanged. Others are made soft and pliable by the same unending grace—new clay from which the Lord will fashion recreated men and women. So grace is neither a reward for good behavior nor a prompt to honor good intentions. Grace is the decision of our God—who cannot fail—to offer all of us what we have not deserved, have often not desired, and certainly could never earn. It flows from God’s unending heart of love. “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift” (Rev 22:17). Now stay in it. -Bill Knott

2 min
FEB 12

WHEN POLITICS MISLEADS US (February 13, 2026,)

How does God’s grace invade our daily conversations? Certainly not by retreating to our separate corners and hurling brickbats at each other. Of all the “stuff” we absorb from our angry culture, the habits of accusing and deriding are undoubtedly the worst. But as grace finds a home in us, we grow more willing to admit that we might be mistaken. Receiving grace requires we confess we are wrong, and always have been. We’ve misunderstood the love of God, imagining Him as only angry, always disappointed. We’ve wandered into deeds that brought us shame and guilt. We’ve argued for ideas that were vanquished at the cross. “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Is 53:6). So grace prepares us for a new way of talking with each other, even when we disagree—especially when we disagree. “You could be right”—"I might be wrong”: these are the tools of reconciliation and renewal. Look carefully at grace before you look your opponent in the eye. There is no greater joy than laughing with a former enemy. So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

2 min
FEB 5

PRACTICING GRACE (February 06, 2026)

And so you’ve got him “dead to rights,” as old books used to say. You’ve caught him in the lie, the theft, with poison pills he slipped into the office water cooler. There’s no way he can wriggle free from how he injured you and hurt your reputation. Now all your moral juices seethe because—for once—you have the power. This is the crucible where what we understand of grace is seen and fully known. If grace has found a home in us, it pries our fingers off the iron mace of moral superiority, of glorying in punishments we can exact. Grace places us just where our enemy now stands. He has done wrong—just as we do. He has told lies—as we have done. He has betrayed a confidence—and which of us has not? Grace always has a claim on justice, but chooses not to push that claim. The Bible says, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:19). If God, whom we supremely injured, sees us with such rich love that He accepts the death of Christ in place of what we fully earned, grace can be learned—by us, in us, through us, for others. Grace lets us first unclench our fists so we may offer enemies our open hands. So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

2 min
JAN 29

EARLY GRATITUDE (January 30, 2026)

Eyelids flutter, and we sense—more than we see—how differently light looks than when we fell exhausted into bed. Awareness jabs at everything—the too-hard pillow; the blanket thin against the chill; the shoulder sore from hours of unmoving. Awake—too soon; too late; too urgently. The undone stuff of yesterday grabs our first thoughts. Oh no! Not that! How much? How soon? And in those fitful moments, the impulse to be grateful for our lives so easily departs—chased out by hot adrenaline. Should we—could we—offer thanks for grumpy children shepherded to school; for spouses facing drama at the office; for traffic ribbons of red taillights? Yet waking up is still a grace, and drawing breath is still a gift. Everything we count as sameness and routine is proof that life still offers possibilities; that things don’t stay just as they were; that hope—and hopeful people—still endure. Grace saves more than souls and minds—the planned, deliberate parts of us. Grace floods our zone with oxygen; with joys too small to write them down; with love as wordless as an infant’s fingers curled about our own. And gratitude—perhaps a prayer we’ve memorized; an easy sigh of heavenward contentment—gratitude equips us for the journey of these hours, this life, and on to life eternal. “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10), Jesus says to all who put their mornings in His care. Awake to life and love and grace. And stay in it. -Bill Knott

3 min
JAN 22

ENVIRONMENTAL TRUTHS (January 23, 2026)

Below our deepest hurt and darkest shame, there is the grace of God—forgiving us, rebuilding us, repairing all that’s broken. Above our highest joy and most euphoric moments, there is the sheer delight of God—applauding us, encouraging, enlarging celebration. Through every stage of every journey—in trust, in fear; in faith, in doubt; in youth, in gray maturity—we’re never left alone or told to make it on our own. Despite appearances, the road is never empty. Around us each are Jesus’ everlasting arms—sustaining us, protecting us, embracing us. His hands are ever on us. “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (Rom 11:36). “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Rom 8:39). We are befriended by the One who rules all time and space. Receive the gift. And stay in grace. -Bill Knott

2 min
JAN 15

ONE HERO ONLY (January 16, 2026)

One hundred years ago, the world knew all about ticker-tape parades. Returning war heroes, major politicians, and sometimes even aviators and athletes would be honored by a slow-motion ride in an open-topped limousine through the canyons of New York City’s financial district, showered by literally millions of paper fragments from stock ticker machines. It was the ultimate symbol of popular success. No wonder so many dreamed of that day when they would ride in the convertible, waving slowly to the thousands lining the way. But when it comes to how our lives find meaning and renewal, we aren’t the hero in this parade. Though our egos, our music, and so much of our “faith talk” put us in the spotlight, reveling in the shower of ticker-tape, this celebration isn’t about us. This parade is for Jesus, “the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne” (Heb 12:2). Grace isn’t just about making us feel special, celebrated or affirmed: those are fortunate results, not purposes. Grace truly understood is the grateful cheer going up from millions of rescued hearts to the One who made it happen through His sacrifice and love. There’s just one hero in this story. And it’s not me—or you. Now stay in grace. -Bill Knott

2 min
JAN 8

COUNTER-INTUITIVE GRACE (January 09, 2026)

We celebrate achievement in every arena of our daily lives, and rightly so. Parents rejoiced when we first slept through the night; the first time we rolled over in the crib; when we finally tolerated the puréed squash; when we took our first tottering steps. We were congratulated for learning our numbers; mastering the alphabet; riding a bicycle; reading a sentence. People cheered when we scored the soccer goal; sank the jump shot; hit the home run. Accolades flowed if we exceeded our peers in history, algebra, languages, or physics. Employers nodded appreciatively at résumés crammed with academic and professional excellence. That’s why we find ourselves so unprepared for the unexpected gift of grace, for which we didn’t work, and which we never earned. t takes us days, months—often years—to quiet our over-trained and striving souls long enough to receive what God says only He can provide. “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, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece” (Eph 2:8-19). Grace is the story of what Jesus has achieved for us. Accept His gift, and He will take you further than you’ve ever dreamed. So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

2 min

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05/24/2018

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GraceNotes is a weekly publication of Bill Knott, former Editor/Executive Publisher of Adventist Review/Adventist World magazines. Take the opportunity to share a favorite GraceNote from this page with someone you’re praying for, or someone who simply needs to hear the good news of God’s unfailing love.

Creator

Unknown
Years Active

2018 - 2026
Episodes

100
Rating

Clean
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GraceNotes Podcast