“…We have many things to say, and hard to be uttered…” (Hebrews 5:11).

Language/communication is the area most affected by my Mom’s stroke. She has lost some ability to assimilate new information quickly and to communicate information at will, both speaking and writing.

What she has NOT lost is her mind.

My Mom’s mind is as keen and as clear as it has ever been, and her memory is excellent. However, the brain highway that connects her mind to language got flood-damaged by the stroke and is still being repaired. (It’s a gradual process, but it’s going more quickly than a government road project.)

She knows when she misspeaks or misspells. She can tell when she’s not making sense. It’s both frustrating and comical.

This fascinates me — the distinction between mind and brain:

• The mind, active and alert.
• The brain, struggling to make the correct muscles work.

I’m wondering if all her therapists take time to understand both the mind and the brain. From what I’ve observed, some treat my Mom like she’s a child, a fact that annoys her more than she can say (literally).

I aim to reach her mind when we talk together, and I’ve found that she still has a full warehouse of worthwhile things to share. It just takes longer to dig them out.

At home we talk normal talk (as normal as we ever get) and she tells me all sorts of inside jokes and stories that her therapists will never hear. One night she told me a little bit about having her stroke. She described it as seeing the world with all the colors running together, like the threads on the back of a tapestry.

Mom, the poet.

Conversing with my Mom is very much like looking for buried treasure. As with any real treasure, it’s worth the effort to find it.

For of all glad words of pen and tome,
the gladdest are these: “My Mom is home!”

(Apologies to Whittier)

I’ve been posting updates about my Mom on Facebook. Friend me over there if you want to see what’s going on day by day.

Here’s a Reader’s Digest version.

My Mom’s recovery has been simply amazing. She is now in the rehab center at the hospital and continues to improve every day.

She takes several kinds of therapy to help her regain strength, mobility, dexterity, and language. She’s almost back to normal in physical coordination and walking. Also, her speech and occupational therapists are thrilled at her progress in such a short time. They hold out high hopes for full recovery. Healing just takes time and hard work (work is my Mom’s middle name).

She has been working on a 500 piece puzzle and is about halfway done (she loves puzzles). She and I continue to enjoy learning to understand each other without knowing every single word the other one is saying. Our conversations are longer now, but we don’t say as much. That might be a good thing. :-)

The doctor is talking about discharging her sometime next week! Then I take over as her primary caregiver at home. My job will be keeping an eye on her as she cruises around the house and spotting her during exercise (supervising happens to be my middle name). I’ll also be her chauffeur. After she’s home, she’ll go to outpatient speech and occupational therapy several times a week.

Thank you for praying for us. We praise the Lord for healing my Mom so much, so quickly. We continue to trust Him in this new adventure.

Normal life hit a brick wall this week. Last Sunday morning my Mom had a small stroke and is now in the hospital.

The stroke affected her right side. It’s most noticeable in her fine motor skills, swallowing, and speech. Our conversations are still fun and interesting — but more challenging. I’m not good at guessing games (never have been), so I’m learning new skills too. It’s a good thing we’re so close. We’re used to anticipating each other’s thoughts and needs.

She is recovering more quickly than I expected. If you know my Mom, you know she doesn’t stop running for anything but a major illness. We praise God for sparing her life and for giving her time to rest!

Here’s a new question for you! Your answer will help me prepare a brand new series of articles that I’m hoping to release in October. What’s your answer? (Please select one.)

Special Request

Would you please invite at least one other person to take this poll too? The more responses we can get, the more accurate the poll results will be. Thanks a bunch!

SK: )

In my last 2 articles I looked at four categories of Biblical righteousness and two mistakes of personal righteousness. In this article I want to look at how God’s grace changes our hearts, not necessarily our actions.

I’m surprised at the number of Christian people I know who have discarded their previously held Biblical convictions and personal standards and call their new freedom “living in grace.” That sounds really good until they unconsciously reveal that they believe people who still hold those standards are NOT and never could be living in grace.

Think about this. If our lifestyle choices determine our ability to receive grace, we’re all sunk.

Repentance, Not Redirection

About 15 years ago, the Lord began to unravel my personal standards to test my allegiance to Him. After dealing with the self-righteous pride in my heart, He deepened my understanding of Biblical principles and reinforced my personal convictions and standards — the same standards I held before.

Since then I’ve talked to many people who reached the same point of self-examination regarding the same standards around the same time as I did. Most of them say the standards caused them to have pride, so they gave them up to “live in grace.” I know these people. Their heart for the Lord is solid and sincere and they are growing in Him, but I do question this understanding of grace.

Do I NOT live in grace as I humbly walk the same path I once walked in pride? Is old pride greater than God’s ever-new mercy and grace? A thousand times no! My problem was pride, not my standards. What I needed was humility, not a change of direction. By grace, my heart was revived to live more fully for the glory of God, walking the path He directed me to take:

• Reading the Bible every day
• Living at home
• Wearing long skirts
• Playing straitlaced music
• Not dating around
• Staying debt free

These personal standards do not make me a good person. Every day I must seek God’s grace to walk with Him by faith. Without pining or preening.

Grace, Not Gratification

Giving up standards not rooted in your own Biblical convictions will bring a huge emotional release. You no longer have to work to maintain a false image of yourself before the world. You are free from other people’s expectations. It is a wonderful feeling!

But feelings don’t validate our actions. Sodomites “coming out of the closet” feel this same rush of tranquility and freedom. Their good feeling is not grace (which enables us to obey God) and it doesn’t purify their wicked actions. In fact, sodomy remains an abomination to the Lord.

Similarly, even clear Biblical commands (e.g., visiting the fatherless and widows) are an abomination to the Lord, if we do them in iniquity. Iniquity is obeying God (doing good) in our own strength, for our own glory. Jesus exposes this kind of sin in Matthew 7:21–23.

A humble believer will receive a reward for doing the same good works that a worker of iniquity will be punished for doing. That’s the power of grace. The issue isn’t the work, but the worker (Christ).

Salvation, Not Standards

I once heard an Amish farmer explain how he came to know the Lord. He grew up hearing the Bible read in German and didn’t understand a word of it. As a grown man he read an English Bible for the first time and the Lord used His Word to save him.

This man has remained in his Amish community. In speaking with people about his new faith he makes it clear that, though his heritage and chosen lifestyle is still Amish, his culture has nothing to do with God saving him. It is a work of grace in Christ Jesus alone.

He makes my point exactly.

How you live will NEVER make you a better person — whether you totally reject the “Biblical” standards you once held, or whether you stick by your “old-fashioned” standards against all reason.

Trusting in your own good works is always iniquity (self-will).

Belief, Not Behavior

Our personal Biblical standards may change through our life on earth. In fact, they SHOULD be maturing to conform more and more to the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is sanctification.

If we are self-satisfied with our lifestyle (no matter what it is), we need humility more than we need a change of direction. Changing our behavior won’t change our heart (though it may bring emotional satisfaction). We need to ask the Lord to give us His Spirit to live in obedience to Him and to please Him alone.

If we are in Jesus Christ and bearing fruit worthy of repentance, we are already living in grace. He alone can give us righteousness. Trust Him. Rest in His perfect work. That is grace.

.

“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Galatians 2:21).

In my last article I wrote about four categories of Biblical righteousness. In this article I want to look at two mistakes of personal righteousness.

Going back to a previous example:

• Woman A thinks wearing dresses makes her more holy.
• Woman B thinks wearing dresses makes her less holy.

Woman A explains: “When I was wearing pants, it made me proud of all the ‘masculine’ things I could do. I secretly wished to be a man and to blend in with the world. Now when I wear dresses it reminds me that God created me a woman on purpose. By grace I am now free to be feminine and ‘peculiar’ with a thankful heart, for God’s glory.”

Woman B explains: “When I was wearing dresses all the time, it made me proud of how I was ‘living for the Lord’ when, in fact, I was totally focused on making myself appear ‘godly.’ Pants or skirts, it’s your heart that counts. By grace I am now free to wear whatever fits the occasion with a pure heart, for God’s glory.”

Both women hold a personal standard based on personal Biblical convictions. That is all to the good.

The First Mistake

The problem is what happens next: Woman A and Woman B look at each other and quietly condemn the other’s personal standards, without knowing the other’s convictions.

Woman A thinks: “Woman B is so worldly-minded. I remember how it was when I wore pants… Then the Lord gave me grace to give them up.”

Woman B thinks: “Woman A is so proud. I remember how it was when I wore dresses… Then the Lord gave me grace to give them up.”

This is exactly the kind of “judge not” that Jesus and Paul warned us against. (See Matthew 7:1 and Romans 2:1.) These women are making spiritual judgments about each other based on their own experiences (condemning themselves). It is dangerous ground on which to wave a flag of righteousness.

The Lord is constantly working in the hearts of His people to conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28–29). We can’t see at a glance how the Lord is working in the hearts of other people. It takes time to understand others’ convictions. We are all at different stages of our spiritual growth. How we live our lives outwardly for the Lord will change and mature throughout our lives. This is called sanctification.

The Second Mistake

Both of these women were a little bit right in their convictions, but a whole lot wrong in discerning the spiritual causes of their known sin. They made a grave mistake when they said their lifestyle choices “made them proud,” believing that changing their standards helped them to become less proud. Pride is not governed by our actions. Our actions may reveal pride, but the seat of pride is our heart.

How do you respond when you discover you’ve become self-righteously pleased about your good intentions to “follow the Lord”?

This is the question I want to explore in my next article. Stay tuned!