Paula, Author at Paula Wiseman

About Paula

I write real but fictional books about Christians wrestling with their faith in the midst of life's challenges.

Abstract vs. Reality

Abstract concepts are sometimes hard to grasp. Even the dictionary struggles. “Having only intrinsic form with little or no attempt at pictorial representation or narrative content.” Okay. Then it tries again. Poem is concrete while poetry is abstract. And that’s as good as it gets. Small wonder we have trouble with concepts in Scripture that are abstract … until they aren’t. The resurrection, for example.

The resurrection was abstract … until it wasn’t

He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee. Luke 24:6

Jesus’s resurrection is so obvious in hindsight. He predicted it multiple times. As it approached, He focused more and more on His private teaching with His disciples about it. He told them. He explained it. He prepared them. He gave them instructions about what to do after it happened.

Yet, on Resurrection morning, not one of them connected the abstract with the reality. Andrew didn’t say, “It’s the third day. The tomb should be empty. Let’s head to Galilee.” Neither did Philip or John or James or any of the others. In fact, when the women came with the news that the tomb was empty and they had seen angels, “their words seemed to [the disciples] like idle tales, and they did not believe them.” (Luke 24:11) The very things that Jesus had repeatedly told them were discounted as silly stories.

Do we struggle with the abstract?

Now, with two thousand years of theological sophistication behind us, we smile a patronizing smile at these guys who were so obtuse, so faithless, so forgetful …

And we complain about a culture that is hostile to us. (Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Matthew 5:11)

And we fret about the unrest in the world. (And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Matthew 24:6)

And we don’t understand why no one will listen to our message. (Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:14)

And we wonder why things have to be difficult. (These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33)

Jesus told us what we need to know

Like the Twelve before us, we have trouble making the jump from abstract words to real-life applications. The words Christ spoke were not empty rhetoric. They were not sound bites or slogans. They aren’t meant to be empty mantras or feel-good platitudes. He intended to instruct, inform, and prepare His immediate followers and then by extension, generations that would come after, to operate as His church in the world. We shouldn’t be disheartened, caught off-guard, or frustrated because He told us ahead of time.

In fact, the opposition and the challenges we endure as individual believers and as the body of Christ, not only testify to Christ’s deity but should serve to strengthen our faith in Him and His promises.

And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. John 14:29

Unity

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Jesus prayed for our unity

I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. John 17:21 NLT

Unity and the Disciples

There are two important things about unity that are often confused. Unity is not the same thing as conformity. Unity is not the same thing as unanimity. However, unity is the hallmark of genuine discipleship.

Consider two of the guys who followed Jesus, Simon and Matthew. Zealot and Publican. A zealot was a militant radical. Let that sink in. We see plenty of militant radicals on the news. They are often masked, brandishing weapons, spewing threats and hatred at their enemies with a passion that infuses every part of their existence. That’s the kind of guy Simon was.

Matthew was a publican, a tax collector. He was worse than an IRS agent or shifty salesman. He was a traitor. A collaborator with the enemy oppressor. Worse than Benedict Arnold.

Simon would have applauded Matthew’s assassination. Matthew would have been satisfied with Simon’s arrest and execution.

It would be naïve for us to think that just because these guys were followers of Jesus that suddenly they became best buddies. In between the lines of the squabbles mentioned in Scripture were very partisan, very rancorous exchanges. Not just between these two. Not just when they first joined the group.

I like to imagine that when Jesus sent them out in pairs, He purposefully put these two together.

We haven’t changed much over the years. We are defensive and insecure. We look around at other believers, sneering at how liberal and permissive they are. Or we smugly point out how judgmental and legalistic they are. That’s not unity. That’s not what Jesus had in mind for us.

What unifies us?

Our need for the grace of God every single day unifies us. We are all coming to the knowledge of the truth. We haven’t arrived. We are starting from different places, working on different facets of our lives at different rates. We have different challenges. We sin differently. We fail. We overcome. We grow. We fail again.

Our mission of advancing the kingdom of God unifies us. When Christ became a man to live among us, He was the perfect embodiment of God’s character and purposes. In this prayer, He passes that task on to us, His church. We are not perfect, but we are tasked with embodying God’s character– His love, His mercy, His grace, His forgiveness–and His purposes–the redemption of every individual.

Our experience and station unify us. One body. One Spirit. One hope. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all an in us all.

Jesus prayed for our unity as the unmistakable hallmark that He was from God. Unity breeds respect, compassion, and consideration rather than suspicion, condemnation, and competition. Our fulfillment of the commission He gave us is inextricably tied to it. The measure of our faithfulness to that commission is dependent on it. Unity. Not conformity. Not unanimity.

Unity.

Of need, of grace received, of purpose.

Wind and Fire

By Paula

And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. Acts 2:2-3

On October 8, 1871, a cold front moved across the upper Midwest generating strong winds. These winds caught small brush fires farmers had set to help clear land. A firestorm ensued, meaning superheated flames more than 2000 degrees F were pushed by winds over 110 mph. The firestorm engulfed the town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, and eleven other communities. One eyewitness described how the fire seemed to jump the Peshtigo River. The fire generated its own tornadic winds and resulted in an area twice the size of Rhode Island burned. A conservative estimate of fifteen hundred lives were lost. It seemed nothing could stand in the conflagration’s way. It was the most destructive fire in U.S. history.

Wind and fire are an unstoppable combination.

Forty days after His resurrection, in some of Jesus’s final instructions to His disciples, He said they were to remain in Jerusalem and wait for the power from on high (Luke 24:49). Ten days later, when that power manifested, it came as wind and fire. Thousands upon thousands were saved. It was the most amazing day in the life of the church. From there the wind and fire pushed outside the city limits to the surrounding country and eventually the entire world.

On Pentecost by using wind and fire to mark the arrival of the indwelling Holy Spirit, God teaches us that nothing can stop the spread of the Gospel. Furthermore, its impact is unmistakable. Wind and fire harnessed and used for God’s purposes are powerful and productive.

Today the Peshtigo Fire has largely been forgotten. Buildings have been rebuilt. Survivors have passed on. The loss isn’t felt as urgently. Even in 1871, the tragedy was overshadowed by the Chicago Fire that happened the same day.

Today we know the name Pentecost, but other things have been built on top of it. People who felt the power have long since passed on. We don’t feel the need for it as urgently.

Wind and fire. They are still in use, still available. Pray we don’t become firebreaks and wet blankets.

The Antidote to Fear

By Paula

So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.” Genesis 3:10

We just passed Halloween, and by this point, we’ve picked through all the good candy and are left stirring around the Laffy Taffy, hoping beyond hope that we overlooked a Snickers in the bottom of the bucket. Or is that just at my house?

We like Halloween, not just because of the chocolate. We like the idea of being scared. Not really scared, but a carefully controlled version of scared that gives us the jolt of adrenaline without any real risk. We control the boundaries and the dosage. It’s the reason we like scary movies, and it’s the reason we like thrill rides.

But real fear is a different story.

Real fear paralyzes us. Psychiatrists have labeled thousands of phobias. Counselors spend hours addressing anxiety in all sorts of forms. Fear interferes with our lives and our relationships. It keeps us from moving forward, from moving on, and sometimes from escaping because we’re afraid of the unknown. It even takes years off our lives.

It’s as old as Eden.

Adam was given dominion over creation. Nothing could touch him. He had never known fear, nor was there anything to be afraid of. But the very first words out of Adam’s mouth after his transgression were, “I was afraid.” His was the terror of facing a holy God and having his sin exposed.

We’ve never gotten over that. To this day, we hide behind our accomplishments, our good deeds, even our reputations to keep from being exposed. We distance ourselves from anyone who might uncover our weakness. We flee intimacy from God.

Perfect love casts out fear.

You see, in the midst of our failures and fear of exposure, God seeks us out. He doesn’t wait until we come crawling to Him. He comes to us. He takes the initiative and meets us at the point of our frailty, not to upbraid or shame us, but to deal with our issues. He erases our sins. He restores the relationship and clothes us in His own righteousness.

It’s been replaced.

In 1 John, the apostle talks a lot about God’s love. (A lot.) Consider Chapter 4:16-18 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

God replaces fear with boldness. Boldness. In the day of judgment. If we don’t have to fear the judgment of Almighty God, what is there left to fear, really? The key is in verse 16. We have known and believed the love God has for us.

Love is the antidote to fear. It always has been.

Know His love. Believe His love. Trade in your fear.

What Do You Seek?

By Paula

Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?” John 1:38

What do you seek?

These are the first words John records Jesus saying. It’s not an inquiry. Jesus isn’t looking for information. It is an invitation, rather, to speak from our hearts. In our English Bibles, the question is translated a number of different ways.
What are you looking for?
What do you want?
What are you after?

A fair question to ask any Jesus follower.

What are we looking for? What is the desire of our hearts, the longing of our souls?
Do we want to be part of a movement? Do we want to enhance our reputation? Do we want peace? Acceptance? Validation? Personal redemption? Jesus knows we want all those things, but He offers something we need even more.

Jesus’s question is even more profound.

Two verses earlier, John the Baptist had clearly identified Jesus as the Lamb of God. He affirmed Jesus was the one who would take away the sin of the world. In light of that, Jesus’s question is, “Are you seeking what I can give, what I alone can give?” It is much like, “Do you truly know who I am?”

They called him “Rabbi.”

It was respectful, but it was limited. Seeing Jesus as a wise teacher was safe. It fit with their ideas of how God operated, how the universe worked. The Incarnation, a God who would sacrifice Himself, was more than they were ready to grasp.

What do we seek?

A rabbi who’s a little wiser than we are, who’ll answer our questions, solve our problems.
A rabbi who’s manageable, familiar, predictable?
Or are we seeking the Lamb of God?

Help Untangle the Graveclothes

By Paula

Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.” John 11:42-43

Does anything about that miracle catch your attention?

Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, but Lazarus was still bound in the graveclothes. Lazarus didn’t walk out looking like he’s just arrived from an extended spa vacation.

Jesus also didn’t snap His fingers and cause the wrappings to dramatically drop to the ground. No. After watching Lazarus awkwardly waddle or hop or whatever he did to get out of the tomb, after letting everyone around see Lazarus–alive but struggling–Jesus called on those nearby to step up and help him out. Like the feeding of the 5000, others got to participate in the miracle.

In a similar way, every day, all around us, Jesus is calling people out of spiritual, eternal death.

They come out of the darkness and into His light, but they are still bound in graveclothes. They aren’t perfect. They still carry old attitudes, habits or ideas with them. They stagger and stumble. All too often, we shake our heads at this point and walk away.

Can you imagine anyone walking away from that cemetery in Bethany? Or refusing Jesus’s call to get Lazarus loose? Me either.

It is up to us to participate in the miracles around us by stepping in and helping untangle new believers from their old graveclothes.

Not in a snotty sanctimonious way, but with a humble realization that somebody had to untangle us as well.

We also have to recognize that sometimes, folks are going to get tangled back up in those graveclothes. And honestly, so do we. Jesus could snap His fingers and make everything perfect, and one day He will. In the meantime, this is His plan–that we help each other, that we give and take, that we grow and go.

So don’t stand back watching. Step up. Help unwrap and untangle.

Abstract vs. Reality

The resurrection was abstract … until it wasn’t

Do we struggle with the abstract?

Jesus told us what we need to know

Unity

Unity and the Disciples

What unifies us?

Wind and Fire

Wind and fire are an unstoppable combination.

The Antidote to Fear

But real fear is a different story.

It’s as old as Eden.

Perfect love casts out fear.

It’s been replaced.

Love is the antidote to fear. It always has been.

What Do You Seek?

What do you seek?

A fair question to ask any Jesus follower.

Jesus’s question is even more profound.

They called him “Rabbi.”

What do we seek?

Help Untangle the Graveclothes

Does anything about that miracle catch your attention?

In a similar way, every day, all around us, Jesus is calling people out of spiritual, eternal death.

It is up to us to participate in the miracles around us by stepping in and helping untangle new believers from their old graveclothes.

Encounters Series

Covenant of Trust Series

Foundations Series