From time to time, I hear concerns about biblical counselling being too introspective.
After all, the argument goes, aren’t Christians supposed to have an outward gaze and a concern for the lost? Isn’t it all a bit self-centred to be focussing on me and my problems? The concern is worth addressing: here are three responses.
God and his glory
1. Rightly understood, the biblical counselling movement has at its heart not ‘me and my problems’ but God and his glory. According to the Bible the reason we are to grow in godliness is so that we might glorify God. Paul’s prayer for the Christians in Philippi is that they might discern what is best and be pure and blameless … filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God (Philippians 1.10-11). Growing into the likeness of Christ is one of the key ways we bring glory to God. God is glorified when a church, the whole body of Christ, becomes mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ (Ephesians 4.13).
