Transformed by Grace

Four years ago, 18-year-old pianist Josiah Jackson made a promise at Chicago O’Hare International Airport: one day, he would return and fix a broken, out-of-tune public piano—for free. In 2024, he fulfilled that promise, spending seven hours meticulously restoring the instrument, bringing music and joy back to a busy terminal.

Josiah’s story is a powerful picture of the Gospel. Like that neglected piano, sin has left each of us broken and out of tune, unable to live the life God designed us for. But there’s hope: God’s grace restores us.

In my latest post, we dive into Romans 6:1-14 to see how grace transforms our lives. We are given new lives through Jesus’ death and resurrection, welcomed into a new relationship with God, and freed to live as instruments of righteousness. This transformation isn’t about trying harder—it’s about trusting God’s restoring work and living each day in the safety net of His grace.

You’ll also discover a simple two-step daily challenge to help you live in the freedom and confidence that comes from being made new in Christ.

Big Idea: God’s grace doesn’t just cover our sins—it transforms us, tuning our lives to reflect His love and purpose in the world.

I invite you to read the full post, be encouraged by Josiah’s inspiring story, and be challenged to live each day as a song of praise to the God who catches us when we fall and tunes us for His glory.

Read Transformed by Grace here.

Paulism: God Helps Us Change

Daily Thought: It is all God's Grace

Truly, we are saved by grace.  Heaven, we say, does certain things for us, and also proposes to us what we should do to inherit eternal life.  It is all for God; for he has sent his Son; he has sent his Spirit; and all that they have done, or shall do, is free favor; and the proposition concerning our justification and sanctification is equally divine and gracious as the mission of his Son.  We are only asked to accept a sacrifice which God has provided for our sins, and then the pardon of them, and to open the doors of our hearts, that the Spirit of God may come in and make its abode in us.

Alexander Campbell, The Christian System, The Gospel Advocate Company (2001), p. 21

Daily Thought: Our Appreciation for Salvation

What are you going to do with the four gospels, Acts of the Apostles, twenty-one epistles, and the Revelation, which contain hundreds of commands, or rules for Christian living?  What you're going to do with them is reckon with them.  Figure out what they're there for.  It becomes immediately obvious that they're not there to ignore, or to treat as good advice or godly ideals.  Of course, you're going to use them for their intended purpose: to translate Christians' appreciation for salvation into appropriate and loving responses to God and man.  For sure, they're not there to justify us, for the same reason we've said several times now: justification is by grace, not works.

William Pile, What the Bible Says about Grace, College Press (1990); p. 151

Daily Thought: We Are Under Grace

Law is always external. It is always imposed from outside. It can never make man good. It can only make him wish he had been good. The coming of Jesus brought an end to law as a basis of anyone's relationship to God. Law, as a written code, was suspended and superseded by grace and truth. We are no longer governed by a written code. We are not under law, but under grace.

Ketcherside, W. Carl (2010-08-05). The Death of the Custodian (Kindle Locations 677-679). SCM e-Prints. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: Remember God's Grace

"When rains come and the flood waters rise, remember your position in God's grace.  Your sin is not too dark, your failures not too great, your mistakes not too overwhelming for God's grace.  Reach out to him.  No matter how big the waves or how furious the wind, God will support you." ~ Jud Wilhite, Faith that Goes the Distance, p. 82

Daily Thought: A Beautiful Transparency

"To be alive is to be broken.  And to be broken is to stand in need of grace.  Honesty keeps us in touch with our neediness and the truth that we are saved sinners.  There is a beautiful transparency to be honest disciples who never wear a false face and do not pretend to be anything but who they are." ~ Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel, p. 85

Daily Thought: A Denial of Jesus

"Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system.  It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian 'conception' of God.  An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins.  The Church which holds the correct doctrine of grace has, it is supposed, ipso facto a part in that grace. In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin.  Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God." ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 43

Daily Thought: An Act of Divine Grace

"God's covenants with man are always acts of divine grace. They stem from the fact that God is love, and it is the nature of this love to be ever active and outgoing toward its object. There is no obligation owed to sinful man to compel the Creator to continue to act toward him in such a manner as to promote his welfare. The covenants of God grow out of the nature of God, and not out of the nature of man." ~ Ketcherside, W. Carl, The Death of the Custodian (Kindle Locations 115-117), SCM e-Prints. Kindle Edition.

Daily Thought: Receive and Give Forgiveness

"To receive forgiveness cannot be our ultimate end.  When we are genuinely grateful for forgiveness given us, we will in turn extend grace and forgiveness  to others.  This is what it means to live in grace, to live in an unending stream of forgiveness.  Grace both receives and gives forgiveness without measure.  To receive the grace of God and yet treat others ungraciously is an act of wickedness.  No matter how much we are required to forgive in others, it pales in comparison to what God has forgiven in relationship to us." ~ Erwin McManus, Uprising, p. 123

We Are On The Same Level

Daily Thought: Love and Serve

"Serve Him, not because you have to, not because you're afraid to, not just because it pays off handsomely, but because you love Him." ~ William Pile, What the Bible Says about Grace, p. 171

Daily Thought: The Framework for Life

"Everything that a Christian does, from belief to baptism to holiness to hope, is held within this framework of God's powerful love and grace." ~ N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians, p. 151

Daily Thought: The Sole Cause

"Any theology that construes salvation as some sort of cooperative effort between God and man is false.  Whatever man does in reference to his salvation may be seen as responsive, not causal.  Jesus, God's gift, is the sole cause." ~ William Pile , What the Bible Says About Grace, p. 105

Thoughts from Dallas Willard

Saw this on Scot McKnight's blog: Jesus Creed.  Good stuff from Dallas Willard.

Daily Thought: Seasoning The World

"Indeed, if we separate ourselves wholly from sinners, how could we possibly answer that character which Jesus requires in His other teachings?  'You are the salt of the Earth.' It is your very nature to season whatever is around you.  It is the nature of your faith to spread it to whatever you touch.  You diffuse it on every side to all those around you.  In relationship to others, you are lowly, serious, and meek.  You show that you hunger after righteousness, and love God and man.  In doing that you do good to all, and often suffer evil in return.  This is the great reason why God has put you together with other men.  It is so that whatever grace you have received from God, you may communicate it to others." ~ John Wesley, The Sermon on the Mount, p. 126

Daily Thought: The Consequences of Sin

“The spiritual consequences [of sin], however, are even more serious. Matthew says that Jesus saw crowds of sinners as being ‘harassed and helpless’ (Matt. 9:36). The Greek word here for ‘harassed’ literally means ‘flayed, torn, and mangled.’ Sin does leave its victims full of wounds and bruises and festering sores. When the spirit of a man is raped and ravished by sin he is very much like the victim of a physical assault. There are serious doubts that he can ever be whole again.” ~ William Pile, What The Bible Says About Grace; pg. 28

Daily Thought: Don't Be Bitter

"When we embrace bitterness, we reject grace. When we allow a bitter root to take hold of our hearts, we literally miss the grace of God. Bitterness destroys our relationships, impairs our judgment, skews our perspective, and distorts our memories." ~ Erwin McManus, Uprising, p. 124

Daily Thought: The Horror of Sin

“Only when sin is seen in all its horror does grace appear next to it in all its splendor. Viewing God’s gracious gift of our salvation against any backdrop other than our hopelessness does it a disservice.” ~ William Pile, What the Bible Says About Grace, p. 33

Daily Thought: God-Given Lovableness

"We can think of our inadequacies as terrible defects, if we want, and hate ourselves.  But we can also think of them affirmatively, as doorways through which the power of grace can enter our lives.  Then we may begin to appreciate our inherent, God-given lovableness." ~ Gerald May, Addiction and Grace, p. 31