THE JOURNAL of

Biblical Counseling

Volume XXII, No. 1

Fall 2003

David A. Powlison

Editor

THE CHRISTIAN COUNSELING AND EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION

GLENSIDE, PA.

© 2003, The Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication should be reproduced, copied or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from The Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation. Inquiries should be made in writing, addressed to CCEF, 1803 East Willow Grove Ave, Glenside, PA 19038.

In This Issue:

From the Editor’s Desk

Think Globally, Act Locally

David Powlison

Personal Ministry

Dependence in the Wilderness: Living Out of Psalm 63

Jeff Newman

Transforming Your Church: Cultivating a Culture of Peace

Ken Sande

“I’ve Had It with You!” Learning to Be Tender when People are Tough

William P. Smith

Redeeming the Bad Memories of Your Worst Failures

Robert D. Jones

Motives: Why Do I Do the Things I Do?

Edward T. Welch

Walking the Razor’s Edge of Truth and Love in Personal Ministry

Timothy S. Lane

Sex and Cyberspace

Melissa Partain

Public Ministry

Jesus’ Way of Caring

John Bettler

From the Editor’s Desk

Think Globally, Act Locally

By David Powlison

You know the problem well.

On the one hand, our Lord gives us this living Scripture so full of glory and good sense. On the other hand, you have this living person sitting in front of you, a never-to-be-repeated mosaic of troubles and wonders. But a fundamental disconnect is happening.

The Word is alive with the love of God in Christ Jesus. He invades our darkness. His words are so clear. He vividly portrays the human struggle. The wise will of God is realistic and directly relevant. Grace arrived on a human scale. Truth comes in person, attached to names and places, to weather and food, to troubles and joys. God shows Himself operating in the midst of the worst and the best and all the muddling in the middle. You hear the ‘he said, she said’ in the pages of the Bible. The once-for-all arrived in now-for-you form. Scripture came as a timely text, adapted to the varied conditions and experiences of real people, because God is a timely Redeemer.

But this person is a dark tangle. Other voices besides God’s configure his reality. He doesn’t get it and he’s going astray—“ignorant and wayward” in the pithy words of Hebrews 5:2. Therefore you “deal gently”, because we are all so alike. You pick your way through confusion, distortion, such good intentions gone so bad, such good perceptions gone sour, disillusioned hopes, petty conceits next door to amazingly generous acts, and the quiet grind of anguish and loneliness. What goes on inside him is too often malignant, graceless, frightened, sordid, or depressing. Perhaps he even says the right words. But on his lips they sound simplistic or abstract, shallow or sanctimonious, even brutal. Those words of life ought to be ...