Christ Himself

Christ Himself

I have been toying with this Victory Call in my mind for a week or so. I hesitate to write it because I don't want you to misunderstand my point. I trust that you will hear my heart and allow God to speak to yours.

I am a Biblical Counselor and have been doing counseling of some sort for 17 years. I started counseling shortly after my first counseling course which was the first of many that eventually led to my Master's degree in Biblical Counseling. Though I have "the credentials" I don't think that matters in what I want to share with you today. You see, I firmly believe we all counsel. Whether you have ever stepped foot in a seminary or not, you counsel. I have never considered counseling as only that which occurs in an office with a professional. Counseling involves teaching, training, encouraging, admonishing, challenging, guiding, sharing, discipling, coming-along-side of another individual. From that view, we all qualify as "counselors." It is that perspective from which I write this VC.

Whether you are chatting with a friend over a cup of steaming hot tea, or discipling a new or not-so-new believer, or parenting, you are pointing people towards something. What is that something? My experience has been that we are prone to point people to read their Bible, pray, serve, fast, confess their sins, etc. THESE ARE ALL GOOD THINGS, even vital things. However, it is Christ Himself that saves; it is Christ Himself that rescues; it is Christ Himself that heals. He may choose to use any one of the above avenues to accomplish His plan, but in what do we trust? Are we trusting the Person of Jesus Christ or are we trusting in those things we do, helpful things, but activities rooted in ourselves, our abilities, and our faithfulness? Dear sister, hear my heart. THESE ARE ALL GOOD THINGS. But our counsel to ourselves and others should point to the person of Jesus Christ. All of those activities are good as tools that point to Christ. Successful counsel results in embracing the One True God rather than doing things in an effort to improve our situation. It is about a Person, not the process.

Philippians 2:13: "for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24: "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it."

These thoughts really convicted me because I know I have been guilty of pointing people to activities, things to do while failing to point them to the only true source of our hope for change, the Person of Jesus Christ.

Romans 15:13: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (NIV)

Diane Hunt is the Director of Addiction Recovery Ministries at America's KESWICK, Biblical Counselor, Conference and retreat speaker, Victory Call writer/editor, wife, mother, grandmother, and nut and not necessarily in that order.