A thought on the birth of a treasure chest

 

Do you know how a treasure chest begins?

 

Sometimes it begins as a nice wooden box inherited from your great grandmother, but sometimes it starts suddenly– and subtly– when you need a place to put the touching letter you received in the mail. Then it is only natural to place the heartwarming picture you just found alongside the letter. Then when a child draws a picture for you, there isn’t any sense to put that anywhere else. Another letter, another picture, and soon this gap between two books, or the nook in your top drawer now holds your most precious memories.

20 Lessons from College

The biblical counseling courses at Boyce college have been the most influential moments of my college years. Below are twenty lessons from Dr. Lambert that have deeply shaped me. I could tell you the class and the room in which many of these truths took root in my heart. I am thankful to Jesus for Boyce’s lasting impact on so many students. I’m floored at the grace of Christ that these are the truths taught at this school!

So without further ado….

20 lessons from being a biblical counseling major at Boyce College

1) P (5) - Push past platitudes to practical particulars (Be practical or unhelpful).

2) The end of counseling should be marked by thankfulness.

3) Engage suffering before sin.

4) Give hope!

5) Biblical counseling without repentance is just regular old counseling.

6) Where is Jesus in your counseling?

7) Humility is the grease that keeps the gears of relationships turning.

8) If there is tension in a relationship look for sin.

9) Forgiveness is a promise not to remember sin except in a redemptive way.

10) Your purpose in your affliction must be to please Jesus.

11) Pray Scripture!

12) Put off/Put on

13) USE THE BIBLE! (so be saturated in it)

14) Radical amputation (for aggressive repentance)

15) Really listen and really care about counselees (most people don’t).

16) Grace empowers obedience.

17) Personal holiness is essential for fruitful ministry.

18) You must ask Jesus for grace to obey, and you receive grace in the doing.

19) You might be wrong in your evaluation of the counselee. Don’t be dogmatic.

20) Give homework that is going to help the counselee encounter Jesus.

One more – Don’t just apologize. Ask for forgiveness, and let it be a time of restoration instead of shame.

Immunity

Let’s have a biology lesson.

When you get a virus, say a cold or the chicken pox, you feel sick and terrible.

Yet something is happening inside your body.

In the midst of the pain is the scene of a battle. Your body is fighting the disease, and it will win. And when you win, you get something called immunity.

Immunity is a store of antibodies on guard for the rest of your life against that particular virus.

Do you know the greatest purpose for immunity?

Helping the sick.

When you’ve had the chicken pox, you become the one who can help the person who just got it. You’ll come in contact with the virus without fear, because your body is immune. What was a curse becomes a blessing, and this time for many, many people.

 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Four Books I Want You to Read (with a note at the bottom)

I picked books with slender bindings. All of these works can easily be read in 1-3 sittings.

1) The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

Storge, Phileo, Eros, and Agape all examined and articulated by your favorite Christian apologetic. I fear it is an under appreciated work. It is a book that has impacted my understanding of love. You will not forget the lessons in this book, which is the greatest praise I can give to an author. In short, it’s a practical and helpful book by Lewis, and I suspect you’ll identify with every page as well.

2) Pick a Shakespeare Comedy

Everybody is familiar with the tragedies: Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet. I understand– they’re gripping. But I want you to sit down and read a comedy. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tempest, As You Like It, grab any to your liking. Though the language is difficult, it gets easier. Don’t despair but keep going! You’ll catch the playwright’s humor, and this comedic relief is my favorite thing about Shakespeare. His wit will catch you off guard and make you laugh.

3) Up From Slavery by Booker T. Washington

   This is the story of a man who rejected bitterness, instead turning his energy into building an institution by hard work and integrity.  His humility and accomplishments are striking (don’t those two so often go together?).  This man poured his life into restructuring the life of his own people after the Emancipation Proclamation. He is a man you will greatly admire once you read this autobiography.

4) Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce by John Piper

This book (a pamphlet, really) will hopefully prove to be a teaser. It will make you want to read two larger works: Wilberforce’s A Practical View of Christianity and Jonathan Aitken’s John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace. Nevertheless this tiny book is rich in history, and it is one of the Christian’s most inspiring stories to be in this world but not of it.

I haven’t the foggiest (as Alec Guinness said) if you desire or intend to read any of these little gems, but if I can whet your appetite, I have succeeded. I realize two people’s taste in books can be as different as night and day. But I did take my hopeful audience into consideration and tried to tailor accordingly.

The real truth of the matter is that my literature endeavors are constantly spilling over into earnest pleas for others to read as well. I suspect they always will.

The Psalmist

This poem is from my good friend Timur Nesbitt.  Timur is from Kazakhstan and possess an amazing testimony to the grace of Jesus.

PSALMIST 

The beauty of the Cross shows me the love of God.
I am forgiving from my sins,
I praise the Sovereign One!
The Almighty One is everything,
My life is Yours!
You are the narrow door,
No desire for the other doors.
O Jesus Your name is powerful,
I am saved from the wrath to come.
Glory to You alone!
You are holy and perfect.
There is no one like You, o Lord.
Salvation is a gift from You!
By grace alone,
Through faith alone,
In Christ alone I found my sweet salvation!
All my righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
But by Your blood I received true righteousness.
O Lord, thank you for who You are.
You are my salvation!
You chose me for Your glory,
I will walk with You all of my days.
You are enough for me,
I have no desire for this world.
I want to pursue holiness, joy and knowledge.
And everything else is just garbage.

By Timur Nesbitt

Steadfastness

Lord, dim my peripheral vision,

So knowing Christ will be my mission.

 

For my eyes on Earth did fasten

And pleasure became my passion.

 

By your Word make an incision

Unify my heart’s division.

 

Remind my soul of its election

Thus renew my weak affection.

 

Then my longing will be Your coming,

No more shame in the race I’m running.

 

And I’ll delight in You, my King,

Who has given me joy to sing.

 

 

 

Grace

9/11

Here we are. We know what happened ten years ago and how it set in motion Earth-shaking events. The past nine years on this day we have all stopped in silence, mentally replaying where we were as the events unfolded.  However this year, ten years later, it has been thrust in our face again, and we have been called to a longer pause and a deeper reflection.

Ten years ago, as a fourth grade girl staring up into the sky scanning for airplanes, I don’t know if I had ever heard of Islam.  I had no familiarity with someone from the Middle East.  This was my first introduction to this people group, even my first good look at them was associated with this event.

And as first experiences do, it shaped my worldview.

From that point, I was uncomfortable seeing them in malls, and an uneasiness gripped my heart as I passed them in airports. A siren of fear, suspicion, dislike.

A siren that signaled the enemy.

But this year is different. Jesus is opening my eyes and changing my heart. This year, remembering 9/11 is not an angry resolve for justice, not a patriotic unity against muslim terrorists.

It is still a mourning of loss and a commendation for courage on that day.  But it is remembering 9/11 while letting the fear and anger and bitterness drain out my heart in repentance.  It is not a desire for reckoning as much as awakening.  The cry Dr. Moore noted of “Someone must pay for this,” is answered this year with “Someone did.”

This year compassion is the cry, for the muslims who need a Savior.  This year forgiveness is the call, forgiveness from sinners who extend the mercy they have received. This year courage is the theme, courage to overcome fear with love and to be willing to reach out a gospel hand to an Islamic world, or a muslim neighbor.

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;”

-2 Corinthians 5:18