I have no idea who said this originally, but I’ve just come across it on the TGC website and think it’s a great reminder that unless it’s Christ front and centre we’re not really helping anyone.
So make sure it’s all about Christ, … only Christ.
The audio for the Biblical Counselling: Changing Hearts 2014 conference is now up over at the BCUK website. There are four talks in total from David Powlison, Winston Smith and Steve Midgley. All of the talks are worth listening to, but I found Steve’s talk, The foundations for relating well, especially relevant to our situation in the UK.
Struggle in relationships is everyone’s story. None of us has ever had a relationship completely free of struggle. All of us have had moments when we were discouraged by the effort a good relationship requires. Each of us has dreamed that those relationships would magically become easier. We’ve all wished for the power to change another person – and
many of us have actually tried to remake someone in our own image. All of us have allowed inconsequential actions and habits to get under our skin and argued for a personal preference as if it were a moral absolute. And each of us has tried to be the Holy Spirit in another person’s life, trying to work spiritual changes that only God can accomplish.
[Relationships – a mess worth making, Lane & Tripp, 55]
Paul grounds our unity in the unity of the Trinity, not in our ability to get along. We get along because Father, Son, and Spirit have allowed us to do so. We can give grace because we have been given grace. Jesus humbled himself. The Father gently and patiently works out our salvation. The Holy Spirit forbears and abides with us even in the face of our sin, convicting and correcting us, but never condemning. Father, Son, and Spirit were torn apart so that we might be united with them and with each other.
[Relationships – a mess worth making, Lane & Tripp, 46]
For the next few days, How People Change, by Paul Tripp and Tim Lane is available free for Kindle. This is a great read on Biblical Counselling / Care and is well worth picking up for the expense of a few mouse clicks.
“If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are. For where you are pleased with yourself there you have remained. Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing.” – St. Augustine
(Quoted in Community: Taking Your Small Group Off Life Support, B. House)
WHATEVER IS COMMENDABLE 