Counseling For Counsel

This is being written just as the theme closes for the same date in the Junior series of Pages and written on the same date.  That Page may prove useful as an introduction to this one.  Anyone understanding human nature and the explanation for its meaning found in Scripture identifies with the summary word: depravity.  Depravity has been identified by ancient theologians as mankind is not able not to sin (non posse, non pecare).  Jesus is identified as the only person, bearing humanity in his person, who was not able to sin (non posse pecare).  To sin (again we keep matters simple for our space and purpose) is simply to violate the holiness of God so to make the person unacceptable for the Kingdom of God.  The redemptive story of Christ meets the holy nature of God by providing a reason for justification to God, commonly stated as just-as-if-I’d never sinned – forgiveness  Before that ultimate resolution for the Christian, all human beings live under the tension of good and evil in the journey of life in nature.  For the Christian that life period should be dedicated to the improvement of life thought and experience in a sanctification growth.  Under God there is expected to be a growing spiritual life in the affirmative experience (Christ-like) and a fading carnal life in the negative experience (not Christ-like).  According to Scripture this is monitored by the Holy Spirit of God.  Christ promised this Comforter just before his ascension, a promise fulfilled in the church experience initiated at Pentecost.  (Note: The Acts of the Apostles, Chapters 1 and 2)

The summary above appears exotic, bizarre, impossible, wishful, even superstitious to most secular minds, and untrue in the order of other religions, but may be amended in some religions, including some that want to identify with Christianity.  All that mixture belongs to other discussions.  What does it mean to biblical Christians?  It means that God is involved personally in their lives, and basic to that involvement, to make it effective for benefit, the person must be a seeker after truth, especially spiritual truth that impresses itself on the mind and is lived out through the experience of the devout person in righteousness.  This is a key to Christian understanding for counseling.  Without counseling from God the individual will not advance in his or her spiritual journey, even in personal improvement for mortal life.  Our concern here relates to how we may gain that counsel, and make effective even to the model life that God asks from his children.

Early in the process there must be humility that opens our lives to God.  That is achieved through a devotional life that includes a prayerful attitude and a pervasive sense of need for the improvement of our lives so to be meaningful to God’s will for every individual.  Humility is hard to come by when we are so charged with our rights, our pride, our self-preoccupation – all at some expense of what we are supposed to become in our personal lives, our relationships with others, and especially our relationship to God.  The call to genuine humility in character depth appears to be much underrated by most of us.

To counter life negatives, but also to find direction when we are checked about a matter, we seek counsel.  Counsel comes from many directions, not only from the person holding some professional position that affirms or implies counseling skills.  We seek from any source confidence to overcome, to recover, to discover for purpose, to serve others and to find greater meaning for life and identity in a context of righteousness (right).  Where are the answers?  They are found: 1) from down deep in ourselves and must be drawn out for our evaluation to application; 2) from persons, perhaps professional in appropriate fields, family members, friends, pastors, neighbors – anyone identifying objectively (non-judgmentally) and respectfully with the seeking person; 3) from Scripture, likely with the aid of a concordance so to gain the whole counsel of God and permit the Scripture to interpret itself; 4) from reading appropriate literature that relates to the issues of concern without judging the reader; 5) from persons who model life in the direction the person wishes to go, even if the model is never verbally addressed; and, 6) from prayer that helps strengthen the individual to do what emerges as a victorious life.  These half-dozen give light for direction.