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

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

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

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

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

A famous journalist once wrote, “The true secret of editing is to know what to place in the wastebasket.”

That’s good counsel for those who seek to live in grace during 2026 as well. The secret of successful living is knowing what to throw away, what to forget, what to discard. In the desk of life from 2025 there are likely many things you’d do better to be without.

Throw away the slights and the insults you received in the old year. Hanging on to them this long has already caused you to be something less than the kind and gracious person you’ve wanted to be.

Throw away the grudges you’ve nourished during the last 12 months. Though they’ve probably provided you with many moments of bitter satisfaction, they haven’t deepened your faith or your kindness even a little.

In 2026, collect coins if you wish; collect stamps; collect postcards; collect tropical fish. But don’t collect grudges. They are part of what lies behind that ought to be forgotten.

And finally, throw away your sins when you’ve repented of them, for Jesus promises to do the same: “I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more” (Heb 8:12). “As far as the east is from the west, so far He removes our transgressions from us” (Psa 103:12).

Grace lets us lean into the future with joy and expectation.

So stay in it. -Bill Knott

So here’s the greatest cause for Christmas joy—not that you deck your house with hundreds of lights or fill your home with dozens of gifts—but that the Lord of heaven and earth entered into the commonness of our lives to be our Saviour from sin and self-absorption.

He’s the reason why at every Christmas a song rises from millions of redeemed men and women to mingle with the anthem of those long-ago angels—a hymn of gratitude and grace.

We discover that life can be something better than a mean little existence between the cradle and the grave. We learn that our day-to-day experience can be full of joy and possibilities, of hope and healing. The glow that began in the midnight fields near Bethlehem has become a radiance none can extinguish: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of all people” (John 1:4).

The gift given us in Jesus is why we search each Christmas for the words of that angel hymn: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward all.”

Gratitude is just another way of saying “Thanks” for grace.

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

Had He arrived with fanfare from some royal balcony, with heralds officiously announcing His nativity to thousands massed to hear the news, He might have changed the politics of one small corner of the world for 40, even 50, years.

Had He been born in some rich villa spilling down the hillside to the sparkling Aegean, we might find passing mention of His name in annals of the empire.

Had He been birthed and raised among the scholars and the gifted, all that He said and all He taught might yield a footnote in the history of earth’s wisdom.

But heaven was both gracious and strategic. When God gave us His unique and irreplaceable Son, He gave Him to the ones without the power, wealth, or learning. From that first night, the hiddenness of grace that brought Him to the poor, the common, the forgotten has made the story of His birth the fulcrum of all history. He is the truly unforgettable Man.

This Child born to us is fully ours, however we are ranked by those who seem to rule the world. In Jesus, grace became embodied, changing lives, forgiving sins, renewing hope for all who trust the gift He is.

Be strong in grace; be rich in grace; be wise in grace this Christmas.

And stay in it. -Bill Knott

The story that brings joy and hope to billions every Christmas brings dread to those corrupted by power.

The old prophecy—fulfilled in the birth of Jesus—that “unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder” (Isa 9:6)—that prophecy rattles every regime built on force, and shakes the citadels of coercion. All the armies they sent and all the dynasties they built will ultimately surrender to a Child with no earthly authority, an infant born in a shed for animals: “Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:11).

His authority rests on compassion and restoration—the truth that we can be reconciled to God and to each other. The power of attractive love brings Him the loyalty of so many abused by force and greed. “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory as of a Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Christmas is a powerful reminder that love will ultimately triumph. The grace we witness in Jesus’ birth is the grace with which He will reign forever.

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

Come stand with me beneath the waterfall of grace.

There is no waiting line, no jostling for position. There are no elbows, scornful faces, or murmured whispers of contempt. No one here will keep you from receiving what your withered spirit needs.

This is the fellowship of the redeemed. This is the company of those who gladly—daily—open their parched lives to the “washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).

Grace isn’t some scarce resource, guarded by the worthy, requiring conservation or close rationing as though it might run out. This is the river of life—re-life; renewal; resurrection—flowing from the grace of Him whose great forgiving is “a spring of water gushing up to eternal life” (John 4:4). 

Those who really “get” the grace of God keep pulling all those they love into the healing, rehydrating stream. The waterfall keeps getting wider. More and more will be revived.

Step out of dry and into drenched.

And stay in grace. -Bill Knott