When we reduce our belief in God to moral tasks we should accomplish, we merely add another tedious volume to our unread self-help library.
Praying for the sick; giving to the poor; exercising patience with exasperating colleagues; forgiving those who badly use us—these are all lovely behaviors—and of no lasting value without grace.
The gospel isn’t an invitation to set our moral house in order, but a declaration that Jesus left His eternal home to live with us, die for us, rise for us, and—one day soon—return for us. “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).
Before we lift a broken finger, or give a soiled bill, or try to move beyond our hatred for those who have abused us, we must hear the gospel’s kind yet thundering announcement: “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 what God has done. Gracious is what we may yet become—through grace.
So stay in grace. -Bill Knott
Bill Knott's GraceNotes: The Struggle To Forgive (February 14, 2020)
Bill Knott's GraceNotes: The Pace Of Grace (February 7, 2020)
Introducing The Why: The Greatest Building
Jared Thurmon: Inspiration or Perspiration? (February 2020)
Journeys With Jesus: The Spirit of Judgment (February 2020)
Gerald Klingbeil: No Marketing Gimmick (February 2020)
Bill Knott's GraceNotes: A Place At The Table (January 31, 2020)
Bill Knott's GraceNotes: The Best News (January 24, 2020)
Bill Knott's GraceNotes: Learning To Walk Again (January 17, 2020)
Bill Knott's GraceNotes: A Psalm Of Grace (January 10, 2020)
Bill Knott's GraceNotes: A Covenant For Wanderers (January 3, 2020)
Bill Knott's GraceNotes: Walking Across The Line (December 27, 2019)
Bill Knott's GraceNotes: Delivered Into Light (December 20, 2019)
Bill Knott's GraceNotes: Not Just December 25 (December 13, 2019)
Bill Knott's GraceNotes: No Strings Attached (December 6, 2019)
Wilona Karimabadi, First Note to Final Bow (December 2019)
Wilona Karimabadi, Ministry In A Can of Spray Paint (December 2019)
Gerald Klingbeil: The Unwrapping (December 2019)
Journeys With Jesus: Life Lessons (December 2019)
Search The Obvious: The Book Mark (December 2019)
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