Paula, Author at Paula Wiseman

What Did You Go Out to See?

By Paula

What did you go out into the wilderness to see? Matthew 11:7-9

When Sunday comes, what do we expect in the worship service?

A reed shaken by the wind?

The latest trendy ideas.
The best formulas and formats.
The best technology.

But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments?

Soft words
Uplifting platitudes
Feel-good stories.

But what did you go out to see? A prophet?

The very words of God.
An encounter with holiness.
Conviction and consecration.

When we go to worship … what happens if we find what we’ve gone out to see?

Secrets

By Paula

He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him. Daniel 2:22

According to a study published in 2017, the average person is holding on to at least thirteen secrets, five of which they’ve never told another living soul. These aren’t what-I-got-you-for-Christmas kind of secrets, either. They are heavy, burdensome secrets like lies told, trusts violated, marriage vows broken, and crimes committed ranging from theft to assault. Thirteen of them.

We expend tremendous mental energy to keep them hidden, only to have the memory and regret assault us in our quietest, private moments. The guilt and shame associated with the secrets come out as anger and irritability. Secret-keepers can become bullies or manipulators, protecting the secret at all costs. Sometimes, the cost is loss of relationships. Sometimes, it’s loss of health. Occasionally, tragically, secret-keepers have taken their own lives rather than face exposure.

We have lived in fear of exposure of our secrets and our sins since Eden. But we don’t have to.

We are invited and encouraged to bring those secrets to Christ. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus called for all who were burdened to come to Him for rest, whether burdened by the standards of the Law or burdened by failure – even secret failure – to live up to it. Peter echoes that in 1 Peter 5:6-7 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

Letting go of our secrets requires humility. We have to own our secrets and the failures behind them. Primarily I mean owning them before God. (There are undoubtedly times when confession to others is in order, but public humiliation is rarely helpful.) When we do, God does an amazing thing — He covers them. He doesn’t hide them again under layers of shame, but He covers them with His love and His righteousness. Theologically, this is called atonement. God acted it out when He covered Adam and Eve with animal skins. He gave it to Israel in an object lesson when the broken law tablets in the ark were covered with the blood of the sacrifice. He completed the covering when Christ died and atoned for our sins.

Letting go of our secrets requires trusting God. We have to trust that He will keep His promise to cover the secrets, (He will) and that He won’t cast us out when we ask. (He won’t). Romans 10:11 and John 6:37 assure us. God knows all of our deep, dark secrets, and He has taken action to deal with them, beginning with Adam and Eve and continuing to the present day.

Letting go of our secrets requires letting go. It sounds obvious, but sometimes this is the hardest part. We have long memories and much more experience with the conditional, incomplete forgiveness and acceptance that others offer, rather than the total atonement God gives us. In Isaiah 54:4, God promises He won’t shame us again. For those of us who have carried secrets as an integral part of our selves, it takes time to grasp that God has taken them, and we no longer have to carry the burden for ourselves. It can be a hard habit to break. Added to that, one of Satan’s lines of attack is to try and convince us that we still deserve our shame.

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that we have a Great High Priest as our advocate, and as a result, we can boldly and confidently approach God’s throne to obtain (not just ask for, but receive) grace and mercy when we need it. (Hebrews 4:14-16) Even … and especially, when it comes to dealing with our secrets.

Newness

By Paula

[J]ust as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4

Not new like my running shoes which are just like my old ones except for the color.

Not new like the year, or the month, or the week which are just marks on the calendar.

New like heavens and earth cleansed and reformed (2 Peter 3:13)
New like the song of the redeemed (Revelation 5:9)
New like the creation in which the old is passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17)
New like the heart and spirit God Himself gave us (Ezekiel 36:26)

The resurrection makes everything new.

Has it made me new?
Does my life reflect that newness?

Or is it like everyone else’s life except for the “color”?
Is my walk about keeping a schedule or checking a list?

If it is, that’s not the newness of life He gave me.

Beyond Easter

By Paula

If you go shopping this weekend, you’ll be hard-pressed to find any remnants of Easter. Oh, maybe a few picked-over decorations or some leftover candy in a bargain bin somewhere, but summer’s coming, and we have to make way for lawn mowers and grills and lounge chairs and flags.

However, I’d guess if you go to church this weekend, you won’t have it any easier. Easter is over, and we, for the most part, are over it.

And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Acts 4:33

It wasn’t that way in the beginning, though. If you read the first few chapters in the book of Acts, you’ll find that the Resurrection was the central focus of the believers’ faith. It changed everything for them. Approaching God was no longer about rituals and routines. It was a relationship, vibrant and bold, full of life and joy and purpose. Every illusion of the power that death or hardship had over them was shattered, replaced by the irrepressible reality that Jesus was alive and they, too, would live forever. Their lifestyle was culture-changing. Their faith was contagious. Their devotion was unwavering.

I, on the other hand, tend to live my life navigating from one crisis to the next. I tend to view the Resurrection as an event rather than a reality. I’m more likely to water it down than talk it up. I focus more on what people will think of me than what Jesus did for me. I rely more on ‘I hope so’, than on the power of the Holy Spirit. I’m much more concerned about the years I have on this earth than the eternity someone else will have apart from God.

Instead, I need to adopt the lifestyle and mindset of the first century. Paul sums it up in Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Dead to self. Alive to Christ.

Finally, I need to remember no matter what happens today, tomorrow, or next week, the Resurrection proves that it is God who has the last word.

He is risen. He is risen indeed!

They Recognized

By Paula

And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. Luke 24:31

A careful reading of the gospel accounts of Jesus’s crucifixion gives a probable identity to the disciples on the road to Emmaus – Cleopas and his wife, Mary.

She had stood at the foot of the cross with Jesus’s mother, Mary, with John, with Mary Magdalene and Salome.
She had watched Him suffer.
She heard the blasphemous insults hurled at Him.
She felt the earthquake and the darkness.
But it didn’t click.

Jesus joined them as they walked home.
They rehearsed for Him all that had happened.
Jesus a Prophet, mighty in word and deed …
We were hoping He was the Redeemer …
There is a rumor He was alive …
But it didn’t click.

Jesus explained the Old Testament to them.
The prophecies.
The types.
The fulfillment.
It still didn’t click.

Until they invited Him to stay.
Until He broke the bread.
Until the moment of intimate fellowship.

If we are only observing, no matter how closely …
If we are only discussing, no matter how passionately …
If we are only hearing, no matter how attentively …

It is only in intimate fellowship that we recognize Jesus for who He truly is.

One Last Object Lesson

By Paula

On a night not unlike this one, the Son of God, God Incarnate had one last meal with the men He had taught and trained for the previous three years. Before the meal, He gave them one final object lesson. After countless other meals, after countless other opportunities, He chose this moment for this object lesson. He washed their feet. Once.

Peter protested. Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” (John 13:7)

Certainly, it was a lesson in humility and service, and the rest of the conversation in the upper room focused on the love the followers should exhibit for each other, but it was more than that.

The Teacher took on the role of the lowest household servant, not because He had to, but because He chose to.
The Anointed One took on flesh and became a man, not because He had to, but because He chose to.

It was an act of pure grace. Imagine being in the room, realizing what Jesus intended to do. Flushing with shame because it never occurred to you to wash your own feet, much less anyone else’s. Jesus may have started with James the son of Alphaeus or John, who were likely the youngest of the disciples. Some speculate He began with Judas. As He worked His way around the room, the awkward silence was broken up by only the water dripping back into the basin. The recipients of this gift became noticeably more uncomfortable. As Jesus worked, the towel became more and more soiled.

Again Peter protested. Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” (John 13:8)

If this was just about hygiene or manners, that’s an inexplicably harsh penalty. However, for months, Jesus had been preparing these men for His death. Now He was illustrating the purpose, the necessity of His death. Within hours, Jesus was going to cross, not because He had to, but because He chose to. He would take not just the day’s road dirt making us fit to partake a meal, but He would take the blackness and rot of our sins and make us fit for eternal fellowship with Him in His kingdom.

Peter got it. Years later, he wrote, For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit. 1 Peter 3:18.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!