Biblical Counseling, the Hole in My Holiness
This summer, I had the great joy and privilege to be part of an intensive biblical counseling training as part of a church internship. I know it sounds dramatic — I promise, I'm not a diva (normally) — but it has been life-changing. Biblical counseling means a lot of different things, but I think the best way to describe it would be this: biblical counseling is intense biblical friendship and discipleship, as counselor(s) walk alongside a counselee through his sin and suffering, to help him behold Jesus Christ as both perfectly sufficient and ultimately satisfying in every trial and temptation, repent of his unrighteousness and the idols of his heart, and put on the righteousness of Christ according to the commands of Scripture, so that God would be glorified in his heart, his relationships, and indeed his entire life.1
The training was challenging to my soul, as the course wonderfully wove together loving patience, tenderness, compassion, gentleness, and kindness — all things that I am woefully immature in. Even in just the few weeks after the training, I am seeing how God is using the truths I learned in the training to speak less and listen more, to put on a heart of compassion and sympathy, and speak with more tenderness and love. I still have a long way to go!
I've especially loved how the training emphasized these two truths:
- The Scriptures truly are sufficient and eternally relevant to help people in all their problems, no matter how messy!
- There is hope in Jesus Christ for every ill of this Earth, every sin of the heart, every suffering of the soul!
Through this training, God has continued to convince me that biblical counseling is the hole in my holiness. I love the world of ideas; thus, so-called "head knowledge" comes easy. In other words, in my sinfulness, I'm a nerd who likes books more than people. But God has not called me to merely think rightly; He has commanded me to do rightly! As James 1:25 says:
But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
There is indeed blessing in knowing the truth, but can I really claim to know the truth if I don't live it? That is exactly where the truths of biblical counseling become so relevant.
My Journey
Coming to this perspective has been a long, long road, so if you’ve never heard the phrase “biblical counseling”, I definitely sympathize with you. Hopefully, explaining a bit about my journey will be both enlightening and encouraging.
Clear Skies
I first stumbled upon biblical counseling principles in the summer of 2011, while on a missions trip in Taipei, Taiwan. The missions team had just visited a local orphanage, and I wanted to know what the Bible said about how to raise children — namely, strategies, tricks, and tips. So, I picked up Tedd Tripp's Shepherding a Child's Heart* from the church library and sat down to give it a read. But, instead of learning about children, I learned about myself! Before the book, I had never learned that God cared most about the innermost being. In my legalistic heart, I had focused much more on the externals of religion — church attendance, Bible reading, evangelism, and the like. I had loved and followed Jesus for a few years at that point, but I didn't understand that a love for Jesus Christ is necessary and sufficient for sanctification, too. I did not yet believe that sanctification wasn't only about putting sinful habits and thoughts to death, but actually reorienting my entire person to live according to who I have already been made to be by Christ's death and resurrection. By the end of the book, I felt my eyes opened to a whole new reality; how great His mercy!
As the years went on, I went to church conferences with speakers like John Street, Bob Somerville, and Stuart Scott. Out of curiosity, I began to seek more information for myself: books by Jay Adams, recordings of seminary lectures from The Master’s Seminary, and Counseling: How To Counsel Biblically by the John MacArthur and The Master’s Seminary staff.
Slowly, I came to believe that counseling is simply helping bring the Scripture to bear in someone's life, so that they could live lives that honor the Lord Jesus Christ. Although the term "biblical counseling" was never used in Scripture, I saw hints of it in how Jesus spoke to Nicodemus and the Samaritan women, how Paul confronted Peter’s hypocrisy, and how Paul ministered house to house while on his missionary journeys. I was eager to be equipped, and I rejoiced to think that a normal person like me could learn to open the Scriptures and help my friends, family — anyone — learn to love and follow Christ better. For a few years, I even entertained the thought about seeking training at a nearby church that hosted ACBC conferences.
Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares
However, there were storms on my journey of biblical counseling. After a series of difficult experiences, I silently resolved to have as little to do with biblical counseling as possible, because I distrusted the framework, and to an extent, those who practiced it. In my mind, the biblical counseling boat was riddled with problems and unsound. Its hull was damaged and its sails torn. The ship hadn't sunk, but it was, at best, offensive to me.
I remember even mentioning to a fellow church member that the scaffolding of biblical counseling might, even as it sought to do good, unintentionally be obfuscating the Scriptures, indeed the God of the Scriptures. Such was my skepticism and wariness.
Be Still
Fast forward to this summer. When I heard that the church internship would have biblical counseling training, I felt a mixture of apprehension and hope. I found myself asking, "What kind of counselor would I turn out to be? Or, would I finally understand biblical counseling’s crucial flaw?" But more than that, I hoped beyond all hope that instead I would find the answer to this question: "Does the fault lie not in biblical counseling itself, but in some of its practitioners? Has this church found a better way, a more loving way, a more faithful way?"
After seven sessions of the counseling training, I can now confidently say that there is a better way, a more loving way, a more faithful way — and I daresay a more biblical way — to do biblical counseling. The ship's hull has been patched, and the sails are flying. See how gracious our God is, to be so kind to a sinner like me! He continues to teach me His ways through His Word and His church.
I am indebted to Lighthouse's counseling ministry, and am so thankful. (As a shameless plug, Lighthouse is offering an Advanced Counselor’s Training course, starting October 2019.) Of course, the journey has just begun, but for the first time in many years, I am hopeful about the biblical counseling framework.
No Greater Ministry
I am still very, very new to biblical counseling. But the sails are unfurled, the ship is sailing, and the skies are bright and sunny. I am excited to learn how to best love people by helping them apply the truths of Scriptures to their lives, that they might be enthralled with Jesus Christ and love Him all the more. Is there any greater ministry than that? I know of none.
[1]: I am an old-fashioned writer. Although I use the masculine pronoun “he/his” in this definition, it is meant as a generic pronoun and in no way intended to exclude or degrade women.