There are over 250 different counseling models in our country today. You can find anything from the weird to the extreme. There are niche models that focus on memories, more comprehensive models that engage the whole being, and models that are purely secular. Some models integrate the secular with the Bible, while others would be considered Christian, from the perspective of teaching Christian principles as the road to recovery.
In light of these many models, what is truly interesting is that the Bible promotes only one counseling model. My goal, hope, and life calling is to promote and teach to all Christians, everywhere, the counseling model the Bible promotes.
The foundational piece that all my counseling and training builds on can be described in one word:
Jesus.
There it is. That is it.
If our counseling does not derive from Him (or point to Him), or if it is not motivated because of Him, then our counseling model is wrong. The point of the entire Bible is Jesus. Adam took the whole world into the ditch of the abnormal. The Father’s spontaneous response to sin was the promise of Jesus (Gen. 3:15), the normal one.
Everything in counseling should point to him, or as it is said today, it should point to “the Gospel.” Christ is what is normal. Are you looking for what is normal? Would you like to experience normal? Then I’d recommend Christ, who is the perfect model of what normal was always meant to be.
Looking for love in all the wrong places
The reason a guy is into porn is because he is looking for satisfaction. He is discontented and unsatisfied. He turns to porn as the answer for his problem. He is no different than Adam, who ate from the fruit of the tree. Satan made an offer to Adam, suggesting if he ate the fruit of the tree, he would experience something special. Adam listened and then partook. He was looking to be satisfied by something other than what the Father was offering.
Truly, Jesus is the ultimate satisfaction for the soul. The only true choice for the dissatisfied is when a person finds his satisfaction in Him. The one and only true and right counseling model is a Gospel-centered model. As John said, “He must increase. I must decrease” (John 3:30).
I wish I could take the bible and momentarily do away with it, stand Jesus in the middle of the room, and point to Him as the solution to our problems. We get so bogged down in principles, practices, methods, techniques, and Bible verses that we miss the yearning Savior, who is standing alone, beckoning us to come to Him to find the satisfaction that will cause us to never thirst again (John 4:14).
Imagine just for a moment . . .
- What it would be like if a husband loved his wife like Christ loved the church? (Eph. 5:25)
- What it would be like if we forgave others because we have been forgiven by Christ? (Eph. 4:32)
- What it would be like if we imitated God. (Eph. 5:1)
- What it would be like if Christ was our only reason for living? (I Cor. 2:2)
- What it would be like if all Christians were willing to bear with one another? (Col. 3:13)
- What it would be like if we endured in suffering like the Savior? (1 Peter 2:21)
- What it would be like if I were Christ-like? (Eph. 4:17-24)
In all of the verses above, there is a direct, solid line from the desired behavior we want to manifest and the Savior we are to emulate. If our counseling does not point to Christ, then our counseling model is missing the point of the Bible. Christ is the singular point of the Bible and should be the singular point of our lives.
@J: Perhaps you are missing the point the author raised? Note how Adam and Eve were quite content until the serpent’s deceptive words sowed doubt into their minds. Adam and Eve _weren’t_ looking for anything until someone got their eyes off of God and onto something they perceived they were lacking. In this case, they lacked the wisdom to know the difference between good and evil – but that’s because they were innocent, not because God was holding out on them. They didn’t even know what they were “missing”; so instead of trusting God, they trusted a complete liar. And now we have all of human history to prove that they were dead wrong, and we are too for thinking the same way. They weren’t missing anything after all, and to think that anything satisfies us more than the love of our God is foolishness. And Jesus is the only way to get back to where we never should have left – but this time, we’ll know better.
I’m a little confused. If up to the point before Adam and Eve took the bite and disobeyed, everything in the Garden was perfect and without sin, why would Adam be looking for something? He was already complete and without need right?