The Discouraged Counselor and the Glory of God
Why do we counsel? Why do we evangelize? Why do we shepherd our flock?
The scriptures display the compassion and love believers should have as our affections align with how God sees the people that surround us (Colossians 3:12).
When we see a believer suffering, we have compassion and desire to relieve their suffering. When we interact with an unbeliever, we deeply understand their position before God and the condemnation that awaits them and desire they would come to know Him.
There are times we fall out of this sensitivity. We pass strangers on the street with little care. We end another shift with an atheist coworker we have never shared the gospel with. We are numb to a fellow believer’s struggles and offer an insincere, “I’ll be praying for you”.
God’s sanctifying work penetrates our heart, desires, and affections as well as our external behaviors. Our hearts should break for what breaks God’s heart. We should rejoice at righteousness. This sincere, others-focused burden-bearing is a good fruit of a believer’s life in Christ (Romans 12:9).
However, compassion for others is not enough.
Compassion cannot be our foundational reason to counsel, make disciples, evangelize, or shepherd our flock. If compassion is the foundation that propels us to love others in these ways, then our drive to continue the work will be the positive outcome we desire. What happens when the unbelieving son that you have faithfully prayed for dies in a car accident? What happens when the friend you are counseling is destroyed by continual betrayal even as she follows Christ and abundantly forgives? These circumstances will leave you devastated as you question where you went wrong and struggle to continue pouring out yourself for others. As you are faced with unyielding counselees and unchanged hearts, even the most compassionate person will be fully depleted.
There is something better than compassion to sustain us as we seek to love others in this sacrificial, burden-bearing way.
The foundation for our ministry toward others must be a passion for God’s glory and a rest in His goodness and sovereignty.
A Passion for God’s Glory
Displaying God’s glory is the goal of missions. Missions exist so that Christ’s name may be extolled and enjoyed by more people as more come to know his saving power (Psalm 96:3).
God’s glory is reflected in our obedience when we proclaim Him, even if the hearers are unresponsive. God is glorified in our perseverance.
Displaying God’s glory is the purpose of discipleship. Discipleship exists so that the reality of Christ’s authoritative Lordship in the believer’s life penetrates every aspect of their life and that they would live in that reality, showing more fully Christ’s power in their weakness (Ephesians 4:14).
God’s glory is reflected in our obedience when we spur one another on, even if there are aching growing pains. God is glorified in our perseverance.
Displaying God’s glory is the purpose of intense counseling. Counseling exists so that in the entanglement of sin our lives would show Christ’s redeeming power for all circumstances, and in the deepest suffering, our lives would show a radical rest in God’s promises and hope for eternity (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).
God’s glory is reflected in our obedience when we radically invest in and sacrifice for others, even if the suffering we seek to relieve lasts an entire lifetime. God is glorified in our perseverance.
God’s glory is our ultimate goal, not simply man’s salvation, man’s changed behavior, or man’s relieved suffering. This is how we can continue praying for our lost child’s salvation for the remainder of our life without seeing them come to know God. Our faithful prayer and witness, despite years without breakthrough, is an act of worship to our God.
A Rest in God’s Goodness and Sovereignty
Our evangelizing, counseling, and disciple-making must be founded on a passion for God’s glory. We must also confidently rest in God’s sovereignty over our lives and the lives of those that surround us. Not only is He powerful and sovereign over our circumstances, but we can trust that He is abundantly good. His sovereignty and power divorced from His goodness would be a terrifying and uncomforting reality. However, we know that His character is simultaneously and fully sovereign, powerful, and good.
God is in control of the outcome. We are responsible to be faithful in our part – to witness and disciple and fulfill the roles God has given us – and even that is only accomplished by His power in us (1 Corinthians 3:6).
As I think about some of my siblings, friends, and the children I hope to have some day, few things give me greater peace than knowing I am not responsible for their salvation. I must be faithful, but God determines the outcome. What a reason to rejoice! This should compel us not to passivity, but to persevere in the work He has given us, confident that God will accomplish His purposes for His glory.
If our burden-bearing is primarily rooted in a desire to see lives changed and we take the responsibility of the outcome on us as disciple makers or biblical counselors, we are going to get crushed.
This is God’s work and God’s outcome for God’s own glory. We are to be faithful in what we have been entrusted with, fully sustained by God’s power and securely resting in God’s good purposes.
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” 1 Corinthians 3:6
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Many pastors and elders experience discouragement in counseling and doubt they have the time, training and skillset to do it well, so BCM created a framework that helps them develop a customized plan to equip their people so they can be confident that Biblical SoulCare is being done in their church with competence for God’s glory.
