If statistics tell us anything, they tell us we are a nation in deep need of counseling, and in large part willing to do anything to get it. America spends some 280 billion dollars each year on psychiatric counseling, hospitalization, and treatment. A three-year study in a large US corporation revealed that 60% of employee absences were due to mental illness. 50 to 70% of visits to a primary care physician (family doctor) were for medical complaints that stemmed from psychological factors. In 2020, depression alone cost an estimated 44 billion dollars in lost workdays. Although it is more difficult to track, some studies indicate that minor depression (perhaps we’d call this the “blues,” or having an “off day”) accounts for 51% more lost workdays than major depression! In any one month, nearly 8 million Americans suffer from depression. Some studies estimate that 15-18% of Americans, including 14 million children, suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder.
Depressed yet?
Along with the crisis of mental health problems in America, there has come a bewildering boom in counseling types. Do you want Psychoanalytical or Freudian; Psychodynamic; Rogerian or Client-Centered; Cognitive; Behavioral; Family Systems; Adlerian or STEP therapy; 12-Step (like Alcoholics Anonymous); the Medical Model (a belief that all emotional problems are organic in nature, therefore medication is the primary treatment); Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (often used with trauma victims), or Solution-Focused Therapy. Many counselors today are eclectic in approach, blending several of the disciplines I’ve mentioned.
There’s another practical consideration involved in choosing a counselor. Has the counselor ever dealt with someone who has the same problem you do? If so, did that counselor help them?
Just picking a counselor is a daunting process! But. . . what if I told you that each one of us already has 24/7 access to our very own personal counselor? And this counselor comes ompletely free of charge! And this counselor has helped countless individuals with the same, deep-rooted issues that each of us struggles with! Are you interested?
What if I added that this counselor comes to us with the highest references possible! It is our Savior, Jesus Christ who promised us, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I told you.” (John 14:26)
How will the Holy Spirit help us? He won’t insist that we lie on a couch as he does his work in us. Nor will he be probing us with questions about our past, slowly peeling back layers of our pain in hopes of us finding our answers deep within. Instead, the Spirit, our perfect Counselor employs a counseling approach that is Scriptural, Sacramental, Christ-centered. His goal is to “teach (us) all things,” so our Counselor uses God’s law like a mirror to show us our sin. Our brokenness. Our emptiness. Our helplessness. (Romans 3:19-20)
Then our Counselor rushes in with word and sacrament to “remind (us) of everything” that Jesus has told us! Again, and again, and again—for as long as it takes. Life-long. This Counselor will never limit his work in us to an hour-long session. Instead, our Counselor will always stand beside us and work in us. How can I be so sure of that? Because when Jesus promised us this “Counselor,” our Savior used the Greek word, “Paraclete.” That word is often heard on Pentecost—the festival of the Holy Spirit.
That title “Paraclete” is best defined with this picture. Your best friend is walking beside you on a quiet wooded path. His arm is around you. As you weep and pour out your heart, he listens. He watches ever-so-closely and reads your body language like an open book. (Romans 8:26-27)
Then your Paraclete speaks through the Word of God. And his message? Christ!
Your Paraclete gives through the sacraments. And his gift? Christ!
Everything the Paraclete does for you and me is wrapped up in Christ. (John 15:26) Again and again and again he works to turn the eyes of our heart away from the brokenness of sin that’s all around us and inside us, and to rivet our attention instead on Christ! (Ephesians 1:17-23)
“But the Paraclete (Counselor), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I told you.” In this season of Pentecost, you and I celebrate the Paraclete and his priceless gift: Christ: our Comfort, our Center, our Calm in all the storms of life.
Privileged to Serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
Depressed yet?
Along with the crisis of mental health problems in America, there has come a bewildering boom in counseling types. Do you want Psychoanalytical or Freudian; Psychodynamic; Rogerian or Client-Centered; Cognitive; Behavioral; Family Systems; Adlerian or STEP therapy; 12-Step (like Alcoholics Anonymous); the Medical Model (a belief that all emotional problems are organic in nature, therefore medication is the primary treatment); Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (often used with trauma victims), or Solution-Focused Therapy. Many counselors today are eclectic in approach, blending several of the disciplines I’ve mentioned.
There’s another practical consideration involved in choosing a counselor. Has the counselor ever dealt with someone who has the same problem you do? If so, did that counselor help them?
Just picking a counselor is a daunting process! But. . . what if I told you that each one of us already has 24/7 access to our very own personal counselor? And this counselor comes ompletely free of charge! And this counselor has helped countless individuals with the same, deep-rooted issues that each of us struggles with! Are you interested?
What if I added that this counselor comes to us with the highest references possible! It is our Savior, Jesus Christ who promised us, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I told you.” (John 14:26)
How will the Holy Spirit help us? He won’t insist that we lie on a couch as he does his work in us. Nor will he be probing us with questions about our past, slowly peeling back layers of our pain in hopes of us finding our answers deep within. Instead, the Spirit, our perfect Counselor employs a counseling approach that is Scriptural, Sacramental, Christ-centered. His goal is to “teach (us) all things,” so our Counselor uses God’s law like a mirror to show us our sin. Our brokenness. Our emptiness. Our helplessness. (Romans 3:19-20)
Then our Counselor rushes in with word and sacrament to “remind (us) of everything” that Jesus has told us! Again, and again, and again—for as long as it takes. Life-long. This Counselor will never limit his work in us to an hour-long session. Instead, our Counselor will always stand beside us and work in us. How can I be so sure of that? Because when Jesus promised us this “Counselor,” our Savior used the Greek word, “Paraclete.” That word is often heard on Pentecost—the festival of the Holy Spirit.
That title “Paraclete” is best defined with this picture. Your best friend is walking beside you on a quiet wooded path. His arm is around you. As you weep and pour out your heart, he listens. He watches ever-so-closely and reads your body language like an open book. (Romans 8:26-27)
Then your Paraclete speaks through the Word of God. And his message? Christ!
Your Paraclete gives through the sacraments. And his gift? Christ!
Everything the Paraclete does for you and me is wrapped up in Christ. (John 15:26) Again and again and again he works to turn the eyes of our heart away from the brokenness of sin that’s all around us and inside us, and to rivet our attention instead on Christ! (Ephesians 1:17-23)
“But the Paraclete (Counselor), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I told you.” In this season of Pentecost, you and I celebrate the Paraclete and his priceless gift: Christ: our Comfort, our Center, our Calm in all the storms of life.
Privileged to Serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
RSS Feed
