A Few Thoughts on Counseling and Christian Beliefs

      When we’re dealing with counseling and Christian beliefs people often interpret things differently based on their own formation and experiences in life. In my experience I’ve seen too often Spiritual malpractice that’s done more harm than good for people in need of real help. Humans have a need to be understood. The real challenge for some pastors is seeing the patterns and knowing when and where to refer. I’ve been taught that this is good pastoral work. 

       As Christians in a relationship with God we are all constantly in need of growth and healing in life, both physical and spiritual. The growth process is created not only by quoting or reading the Bible, but also through the rendezvous of one human with others in which one moderates the reality of God for the other by the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

     We have to find a middle ground where the Bible does have a place therapeutically, and “we also consider the complex factors of chemical imbalances, neurological disorders, and psychical traumas that must be taken into account.”[1] A balanced approach to engaging persons in the growth process demands that there’s a context for addressing the totality of the person’s life, treating the individual as a unity to include the integration of factors such as: social, personal, sexual, psychical, and the Spiritual. Our burden of integration focuses on the role of the person being counseled as well as the person who does the counseling. We all need an adequate competence of our human condition and experience, and this involves offering more than a call to get our act together, and get off of our crutches.

     You and I would both agree that we are all created in the image of God. This Biblical expression applies to the complete human self, soul and body, to include the social and environmental life of a person. Even if you healed someone's depression through a system of obedience to the Scriptures other systems will still not be functioning properly. 

     Spiritual wholeness and psychical health are related. All subsystems need to be moving toward the wholeness of the overall system in a purposeful way. If not, then there will only be limited health. Thus, the image of God is given to humans as an integrative whole that offers the potential of maturation into a complete sense of personhood. This wholeness oriented toward God is first social, then personal, sexual, psychical, and lastly spiritual making personhood the core of spirituality and health.

     Not every problem of human behavior can be attributed to spiritual decay, just as all problems can’t be attributed to organic causes. This is why its important for Christians who offer counseling be open to the possibilities that the source of the problem may exist in the physical, social, or Spiritual sphere of the self. The truth of this statement requires that the proper therapeutic procedures be administered accordingly. 

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[1] Anderson, R. S. (1990). Christians Who Counsel. P. 123-124. Eugene, Or, U.S.: Wipf and Stock

Corruption Angers Jesus

     My sermon text for Sunday September 21^st, 2025, is on Matthew 21:12-14.  In this section of scripture, we see Jesus getting upset in the Temple.  The temple was meant to be a place of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:7). But by Jesus’ day, the outer courts had become a marketplace. Pilgrims who traveled long distances to worship had to buy animals for sacrifice. The religious leaders allowed vendors to set up shop—charging inflated prices. The money changers profited by exchanging Roman coins for temple currency at unfair rates.   

     This was exploitation in the very place designed for worship. The priests looked the other way because they benefitted financially.  Here’s how it reads:

¹² Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. ¹³ He said to them, “It is written,

‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’
    but you are making it a den of robbers.”

¹⁴ The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them.

     I’m human too and there are times when I get angry.  Let’s look at what made Jesus angry, how He handled anger and how we can too:

Jesus’ Example	Our Application
1. Righteous, not selfish – He was angry over sin, injustice, and dishonor to God, never personal offense.	1. Check the motive – Ask: Am I angry for myself, or because something truly dishonors God or hurts others?
2. Controlled, not out of control – He expressed anger with purpose, never recklessly.	2. Stay in control – Slow down before speaking or acting (James 1:19–20).
3. Rooted in love – His anger flowed from compassion (Mark 3:5).	3. Let love guide it – Care about people more than proving a point.
4. Led to action, not bitterness – His anger moved Him to correct wrongs, not nurse grudges.	4. Act, don’t brood – Solve problems quickly, don’t let resentment take root (Eph. 4:26–27).
5. Aligned with God’s will – He entrusted His emotions to the Father (1 Pet. 2:23).	5. Submit it to God – Pray and let the Spirit shape your response before reacting.

Application: Jesus confronts corruption—He won’t tolerate greed or self-interest in God’s house. Jesus restores prayer—He reminds us that God’s house and God’s people are to be marked by prayer. Jesus welcomes the broken—He makes room for the hurting, the overlooked, the ones who need healing.  What tables in your life need overturning?