Costa, Sierra y Selva

I recently found myself in a difficult conversation with a friend. The situation was familiar. There was someone asking me for counsel and there I was feeling incapable and unfit for the job. Normally I say something to the effect of, “hold that thought,” and frantically seek a pastor (because I work in a mission, there usually is one somewhere nearby). But this time that crutch was unavailable and I spent the next hour stumbling through what I felt to be disconnected counsels and backtracking. I hung up the phone feeling burdened for my friend and disappointed in myself.

Later I talked about the situation with Pastor John. John first gave me some advice for how to counsel my friend, and then talked to me about the role every Christian has as a counselor. He directed me to Hebrews 3:13, “…encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” This verse is directed to all Christians (the “brothers” to whom the letter is written), not to all pastors, all who have received a degree in counseling, all who have chosen the ministry of the church as their vocation. So God tells us to be counselors. How do we get there?

John lent me his well worn copy of the book Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change, by Paul David Tripp. In this book, Tripp shows first that all Christians (and all people, for that matter) counsel; the question is whether that counsel is godly or ungodly. Secondly, Tripp talks about understanding our own brokenness before we can reach out and help the brokenness in others.

I am impressed by the vital importance of this thought: that EVERYONE who claims Christ as Savior must counsel their brothers and sisters and help them along in the road to sanctification.  I am equally convicted by my own shortcomings in this regard. How many people have I turned away because I didn’t feel adequate? Because I didn’t have faith that God could use me to bring glory to His name? This is certain: everyone that comes your way was sent to you by God. He did not send them to your pastor. He did not send them to your seminary student brother or to that friend of yours who always seems to have just the right thing to say whenever people seek her counsel. God sent them to you.

I’m praying for the courage to speak words of wisdom and to point to the Cross the next time God sends a brother in need my way, and I’m praying the same for you.