by Mark Anthony Horne
Introduction
In the introduction of Martin Luther’s sermon on 1 Peter 2:11-20, “Third Sunday After Easter – Our Christian Duties: An Exhortation to the New Christian Life,” he states, “We have already heard that in the Christian life are two essential principles, two principles upon which Christian teachers may lay emphasis. First, faith in the fact that through Christ’s blood we are released from sin and have forgiveness; second, being forgiven, our natures are to be changed and we are to walk in newness of life.”[1] In the first essay of this course, I provided what my expected learning outcomes would entail working through the semester. I anticipated “an auspicious development of Christlike character.”[2] This statement highlights Luther’s second emphasis. Reflecting upon the lectures, material read and researched, activities completed, and class/peer conversations, I will show in this final paper personal growth and development towards Christlikeness from the standpoint of this pastor’s, or I shall say, counselor’s heart. In addition, I will elucidate newly learned means to care for the souls of those I counsel by (1) explaining how I now understand the concept of Biblical counseling; (2) describing my self-awareness both personally and as a counselor; (3) showing how my personal growth and development impacts my understanding of my own personality; (4) showing how my personal growth and development impacts my understanding of my ministry in caring for others; (5) clarifying what influence the dynamics of the heart has on me; (6) exploring how my peer responses helped me grow and develop personally as a counselor; and (7) giving the implications of this course experience on my future counseling ministry.
Understanding the Concept of Biblical Counseling
In my “Personal Expected Learning Outcomes” essay, I stated two thoughts pertinent to this reflection. First, “Biblical counseling is more a theological work than a psychological one,” and second, “the counselor cannot do this work alone.”[3] Throughout the semester, I better understood how these two statements conceptually highlight the Biblical counselor’s work.
First is the emphasis of Biblical counseling as a theological work developed by understanding sanctification in my life and how I pray God uses me to give my counselees hope as He sanctifies them. The systematic theologian, Louis Berkhof, defines sanctification as “that gracious and continuous operation of the Holy Spirit, by which He delivers the justified sinner from the pollution of sin, renews his whole nature in the image of God, and enables him to perform good works.”[4] Additionally, The Westminster Confession of Faith section on sanctification states the ultimate goal, saying: “…by the Holy Spirit’s work in us…the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”[5] Therefore, God sanctifies me to grow more like Christ in heart and behavior (1 Thess. 5:23-24). However, as a pastor/Biblical counselor, through the evaluative and creative processes over the semester, I grew in my understanding that the focus is not only on my sanctification (Eph. 4:15-16).
Through the second emphasis that the Biblical counselor cannot do the work alone, I learned that the Biblical counselor is an instrument in God’s hands. Todd Stryd clearly makes this point when he writes, “The central point of this article is that while God is free and able to accomplish his work in extraordinary ways, he, instead, overwhelmingly chooses ordinary ways. And more specifically, God’s ordinary involvement in the lives of people is typically mediated by our ordinary involvement as instruments of his grace.”[6] James E. Hightower, Jr. gives an excellent biblical illustration of this concept. In describing the pastor/biblical counselor as priests, he states, “But what does a priest do? The Latin word for priest is pontifex. It means bridge builder. The priest is one who has access to God and whose task it is to bring others to God. The priest is a bridge builder.”[7] David Powlison states this thought most succinctly when he says, “Sanctification is not a personal self-improvement project. One essential ingredient in Christian love is realizing ‘I don’t arrive until we all arrive.’”[8]
Therefore, I grew to understand that Biblical counseling is about God, the Holy Spirit, not only working to sanctify me but also that He uses me as His instrument to sanctify other believers. I am a bridge for the counselees to understand how to grow more Christlike. I am a paintbrush in the Painter’s hands as He colors their lives. And as Michael Gembola states, “It makes a significant difference to place the great weight on being and becoming worshipping saints, rather than being primarily sinners and sufferers. It shapes how we provide care to people because it fundamentally shapes how we view people.”[9]
Self-awareness Both Personally and as a Counselor
As I reflect over the past semester, my heart was pricked by the topic of self-awareness (Acts 2:37). It is not because I disdain to evaluate myself. It is that I find myself not as good as I thought I was. I imagine I feel like Peter did when Jesus asked him if he loved Him three times (John 21:15-19). John says in verse seventeen, “Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17b, ESV).[10]
I experienced grief or hurt when our cohort studied how to listen better. I learned how prideful I am in believing that I am a good listener. The emprise carried over to other areas where I think I am virtuous, but I find that I am not. I think St. Augustine sheds light on the battle of our idea of our virtues versus the reality presented when he stated, “In fine, virtue itself, which is not among the primary objects of nature, but succeeds to them as the result of learning, though it holds the highest place among human good things, what is its occupation save to wage perpetual war with vices, not those outside of us, but within.”[11]
Therefore, I realized that I must battle to be attentive to my counselees. My mind should not race to find the quick answer or the pastoral solution. Through my self-awareness, I need to sanctify my limitations to help better my counselees better sanctify theirs (Phil 3:12).
Impact of My Understanding on My Own Personality
Personality characteristics or traits have always interested me. Even as a child, I remember studying other people and determining what made them “tick.” After college, when I started my job for Milliken & Company®,[12] I learned how to recognize certain aspects in myself and in others. Therefore, reflecting on this exercise, I do not think it impacted me, per se. Instead, it reinforced what I already knew about myself.
My personality characteristic, according to the Myers-Briggs assessment, is an INFJ. I know that I am a rare bird. Studies show that there is less than one percent of this type.[13] I “focus on possibilities, think in terms of values, and come easily to decisions; and [I] have a strong drive to contribute to the welfare of others and genuinely enjoy helping [my] fellow men.”[14] There is a lot more to my personality, but I understood two issues as I reflected on this term paper.
First, I am complex. As much as I have the drive to help others and a genuine love of people, there are times I need to be by myself. I love a party, but I can only take it so long and must regroup, alone, afterward. I enjoy my classmates and our GoToTraining[15] meetings, but I am so glad when they are over.
Second, because I focus on possibilities, I am likely “to have visions”[16] of grandeur. I am the “go big or go home” person. And not only do I like big and best, but everything also has to be perfect.[17]
Consequently, these two aspects of my personality traits make me a good pastor/counselor. However, they can make me a self-absorbed person. Sometimes life is all about me. The only tasks that matter is my tasks. I need to remind myself of the apostle James’s words, “But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic” (James 3:14-15). As R.B. Thieme, Jr. states, “The self-motivated believer has identified his primary objective in life: spiritual maturity, which glorifies Christ.”[18] I needed to recognize, reflect, and reinforce what I know about myself to continue to examine myself soberly (Rom.12:3, 2 Cor. 13:5) to grow personally.
Impact of My Understanding on My Ministry in Caring for Others
As with understanding my personality, this semester’s work provided an opportunity to develop a personal understanding of my ministry in caring for others. The most important aspect of this study was an insight into how others need hope.
In my “Personal Expected Learning Outcomes” paper, I stated that in comprehending my own self-awareness, I wanted to develop my caring for others by standing in the breach before God for my counselees as Moses did for God’s people (Ps. 106:19-21). As a pastor/counselor, I often wonder if what I do has any real impact in people’s lives. I desire God to use me in such ways. This course helped me develop just how the means of grace is at work in others’ lives. Todd Stryd put it this way, “These types of questions are important. How we understand the relationship between God’s involvement and human involvement in the process of counseling will subtly and significantly impact how we counsel.”[19]
Reflecting on the past four months, I came to realize the key to counseling others is hope. I cannot change anyone’s heart. Only God can. Yet, my duty is that of hope. I like the way Henry Nouwen states this thought, “While personal concern is sustained by a continuously growing faith in the value and meaning of life, the deeper motivation for leading our fellow man to the future is hope. For hope makes it possible to look beyond the fulfillment of urgent wishes and pressing desires and offers a vision beyond human suffering and even death.”[20] It is the hope we provide from God’s Word as the power of the Holy Spirit works in our counselee’s life that allows us to appreciate our instrumentality in cultivating God’s people. Michael Gembola encourages this attitude by saying, “Appreciating people as saints, as God’s holy people, means appreciating what God is doing to bring about real goodness in his people.”[21]
The Influence of the Dynamics of the Heart
Reflecting on the entire selection of readings for the semester, Jeremy Pierre’s book, The Dynamic Heart in Daily Life, was most helpful in explaining our cognitive, affective, and volitional heart functions.[22] God does much with our hearts in sanctification. Vos brings out the way God likes to do new things using the New Covenant as an example when he states, “Here then is the distinction between something old and something new, both comprehensibly taken, is in principle apprehended.”[23] What comes to mind is Ezekiel’s words to Israel of the promise to come, “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 11:19). However, as this work of the Holy Spirit occurs, we realize that there is much wrong with our hearts.
As sanctification transpires by the enabling work of the Holy Spirit, we realize that we are moving toward God’s desire for us. Sarah Ivill, in her book Broken Cisterns, boils our issues down to what Apostle John lists in 1 John 2:15-17. She states, “In each one of these situations sin was conceived in the heart by the interworking of three things: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”[24]
Another aspect of the influence of the dynamics of the heart for the believer is that sanctification does not focus only on sin and our problems. People do come to us for help. I realize that the initial stage in counseling is hearing their issues and peeling back the layers to get to the root. However, I should not continuously lead the counselee to their source. Gembola states this concerning David Powlison’s work, “For David, the Christian life could never be reduced to a concern for sin.” Gembola continues, “He wasn’t primarily concerned with introspection, with how people viewed themselves. He spoke often of the priority of ‘extrospection,’ looking outward.”[25]
Powlison himself states, “Our struggles and temptations are more alike than different. An elderly man facing a health crisis is tempted to worry in ways similar to the high school senior waiting the answer to her college application. Our circumstances can be vastly different, but the human heart tends to respond to hard things by anxiety, irritation, and pleasure-seeking. It is in those places we learn to cry out for mercy to the living God who hears and is near.”[26] For Powlison and Gembola, the end goal of heart dynamics is to put off the old and put on the new for worshipping and loving God and loving others. Heart dynamics is not a focus on problems. Heart dynamics is a progressive sanctifying movement of the heart from the problem to focusing on God. This understanding of heart dynamics positively influenced me in how I counsel others.
Peer Responses
This section led to deepened reflection. As a former public-school teacher and coach, I remember how essential it is to lovingly correct or challenge students. Then as students, we often expect criticism from our teachers. However, when peers have the opportunity to do so, anxiety arises within one’s heart.
I would like to say that I have been challenged through the loving criticism offered. However, there was no criticism. I do not think it is because any of us fear confrontation. Rather, I believe our cohort is grounded enough to affirm the things we like. Therefore, I received only positive reinforcement for my contributions to the class. I must say that this positive reinforcement is not due to my abilities. And it is not owing to anyone’s concern about hurt feelings. Instead, reflecting on my experience as a teacher, each class has its particular personality, and our group uniquely addresses one another in a unified and loving manner. It truly is a manifestation of King David’s words when he says, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Psalm 133:1)
Implications of this Course Experience on My Future Counseling Ministry
I thank God for the opportunity to take this class. It benefited me tremendously this semester. I became better acquainted with my cohort because there was more openness in our discussions this semester. Perhaps it was the intimate time spent together; however, I believe part of it was the material we covered. Through interacting with the readings we perambulated together, the esoteric discussions we had helped lead me to three personal implications I will use for my future counseling ministry.
First, I need to listen with purpose. As I mentioned earlier, I pridefully believe I am a good listener as a counselor. However, from what we studied, I have much room for improvement. I cannot be effective in pointing others to Christ if I do not listen well. Therefore, I will be intentional in developing my listening skills.
Second, I must remember the goal of counseling. It is not to focus on the counselee’s problems. It is not necessarily to fix their problems. It is to point them to Christ so that the Holy Spirit does His work. This takes understanding the dynamic heart. It means realizing that the heart is the seat of our innermost being, including our emotions. To better care for my counselee, I need to remember that their heart is sick and deceitful, so much so, that they often cannot understand themselves.
Finally, I need to care for others as saints, as God’s holy people. I am an instrument in God’s hand to work in their lives. I love how Stryd puts this, “We should strive to become proficient, skilled, knowledgeable instruments, laden with the hope, comfort, motivation, purpose, and conviction that come from our God. We must humbly come to grips with the fact that we are important, even integral, to accomplishing his purposes in people.”[27]
Conclusion
After reflecting on the course, I realize how wonderful it is never to stop learning. Dr. Harry Reeder left us with that impressionable thought in our last meeting.[28] If we are going to be effective for the Lord, we must personally grow and develop. We need to read and cultivate our hearts and minds for the Lord. I know I need this.
[1]Martin Luther, “Third Sunday After Easter – Our Christian Duties: An Exhortation to the New Christian Life. 1 Peter 2:11-20” in Complete Sermons of Martin Luther, vol. 4.1-2, Sermons on Epistle Texts for Epiphany, Easter, and Pentecost, ed. and trans. John Nicholas Lenker, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2000), 273.
[2]Mark Horne, “Personal Expected Learning Outcomes,” as essay submitted to Drs. Howard Eyrich and Cheryl Blackmon in partial fulfillment for the requirements for the course Counseling Methodologies for the Pastor/Counselor and Curing of Souls-DM9102, (January 25, 2021), 4.
[3]Ibid., 2-3.
[4]Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, (Louisville, GLH Publishing, 2017), 453.
[5]The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms: As Adopted by the Presbyterian Church in
America, (Lawrenceville, GA: Christian Education and Publications, 2007), 60.
[6]Todd Stryd, “God’s Providence and Human Agency in Counseling,” The Journal of Biblical
Counseling 33, no.3 (2019), 51.
[7]James E Hightower, Jr. Caring for People from Birth to Death (New York: The Haworth Pastoral
Press, 1999), 179.
[8]David Powlison, “Where Do You Start?” (blog) Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation, accessed on April 12, 2021, https://www.ccef.org/wp_content/uploads/2016/10/ten_questions_to_ask_before
_starting_a_counseling_ministry, 3.
[9]Michael Gembola, “God Is Making His People Good: Counseling and Virtue Formation,” The
Journal of Biblical Counseling 34, no.3 (2020), 13.
[10]Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced employ the English Standard Version. Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[11] St. Augustine, City of God, (Radford, VA: Wilder Publications, 2012), 755.
[12]Milliken and Company is a textile and chemical company whose headquarters are in Spartanburg, SC. One emphasis of the company was training. It trained people to do their jobs and it trained them to train other people to do their jobs. It was here I took courses on how to deal with people and was introduced to determining personality traits in others.
[13]Keirsey, David and Marilyn Bates, Please Understand Me: Character and Temperament Type, (Del Mar, CA: Prometheus Nemesis Book Company, 1978), 170.
[14]Ibid.
[15]https://www.gotomeeting.com/training#, © 2021 LogMeIn, Inc. All rights reserved.
[16]Keirsey, 170.
[17]I should mention that this was what my DISC personality profile reported that correlates to my INFJ personality portrait: “The Perfectionist.”
[18]R.B. Thieme, Jr., Christian Integrity, ed. Wayne F. Hill, (Houston: R.B. Thieme, Jr. Bible
Ministries, 1997), 81.
[19]Stryd, 41-42.
[20] Henry J.M. Nouwen, The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society (Garden City, NY:
Doubleday and Company, 1972), 76.
[21]Gembola, 14.
[22]Jeremy Pierre, The Dynamic Heart in Daily Life: Connecting Christ to Human Experience (Greensboro: New Growth Press, 2016), 17.
[23]Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testament, (Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1948), 321.
[24]Sarah Ivill, Broken Cisterns: Thirsting for the Creator Instead of the Created, (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2020), 42.
[25]Gembola, 33
[26]Powlison, 5.
[27]Stryd, 52.
[28]Harry Reeder is the Pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in America. Our Doctor of Ministry cohort taking the “Counseling Methodologies for the Pastor/Caring and Curing of Souls” interviewed him through video conference at Birmingham Theological Seminary, Brimingham, AL, April 19, 2021.
Andrews PCA 