SIX UNAVOIDABLE FACTS: Part 1
by Tony Rozendaal
This is the first of a series of devotionals discussing counseling in the local church. Dr. Timothy Lane of The Christian Counseling and Education Foundation (CCEF) teaches that there are “Six Unavoidable Facts.” Those facts are as follows;
Someone had a problem in your church this week.
We have everything we need in the gospel to help that person (2 Peter 1:3).
People seek help first from friends, family members, or pastors before professionals.
That person either got no help, bad help, or biblical gospel-centered help.
If people don’t get meaningful help, they will go elsewhere.
Whatever help a person receives, it will be used to help others!
For this devotional, let’s focus on the first three facts. The first fact, restated here is “Someone in our church is currently experiencing a problem.” I think this could also be stated as “Everyone in our church is currently experiencing at least one problem.” I know I certainly have a short list of things that are currently affecting myself and members of my family. Some of these are newer and fresher so the pain is sharper. Others of these have existed for some time so we have become accustomed to them and perhaps have begun to accept that they will never change. However, they remain real and significant problems and they continue to affect us as we move through life.
So - what do we do about these problems? The second “Unavoidable Fact” is that “We have everything we need in the Gospel to help that person.” 2 Peter 1:3-7 tells us that
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
If I am not careful, I read that second Unavoidable Fact as “We have everything in the Bible that we need to help that person (or our self)”, and indeed we are told in 2 Timothy 3:16 that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness...” But the second unavoidable fact is that we have everything in the Gospel that we need to help that person. What’s the difference? After all, doesn’t the Bible contain the Gospel? It certainly does! But the difference is in how we view the Bible. When we look to the Bible as a How-to manual we can quickly lose sight of the Gospel. The Gospel is that Christ came, walked on Earth, and suffered and died and rose again to restore our relationship with God. This is what it means to become a partaker of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4, above). The primary purpose of the Bible is to point us to the Gospel.
The concept of relationship continues and builds when we consider the third “Unavoidable Fact.” If someone comes to me with a problem, am I quick to give them a list of Biblical commands that if they will only follow, will fix their problem? Or, am I willing to take the time and make the effort to enter into a relationship with that person? We are commanded in the Scripture to “Bear one another’s burdens.” (Gal 6:2) I can do that only when I am in a relationship with someone. Giving them a list of one or more things that “worked for me” is not entering into a relationship. Handing them a book that I “found to be helpful” is not entering into a relationship.
What if you are the one with the problem? This is the deeper question. Are you simply looking for a “quick fix”? Something where “If I do A, then B will follow and my problem will disappear (or at least minimize to the point that I can live with it)”? God is more complex than that. What God is doing through your affliction is calling you into a deeper relationship with him (James 1:2-3). Here is where the Bible may be the tool you need. Not for a list of proof-text fixes, but in your daily reading, where do you hear God calling you into a deeper relationship with him? Where is He calling you to trust Him more fully?
Photo by Joeri Römer on Unsplash
