Don’t Just Read Your Bible

Your Bible reading isn’t finished when you complete the reading you have chosen for the day. Bible reading is not just about reading the words in the section for that day. Bible reading is designed to change and transform us — we don’t just read the Bible, but we do what we read. We act on […]

The Best books I read in 2024

I enjoy books. I like bookstores — new bookstores, old bookstores, used book stores, and digital (online) bookstores. I spend a significant amount of time and money in bookstores each year. And I read, too (though not as much as I’d like, typically). Several years ago, I began keeping track of what I read each […]

The Best books I read in 2023

I’m a book collector. I’m not a vintage book collector. I don’t collect first editions. There aren’t many valuable books (as most people value them) in my collection. But I do like gathering books, purchasing books, and accumulating books. I like hard backs, paperbacks, and digital books (Kindle, PDF, and audio). I collect books because […]

The Holy Spirit and Biblical Counseling

Last week I preached at the annual conference for the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors. My task was to address the sufficiency of the Holy Spirit from Galatians 3. I had more than a year to prepare the message. I regularly have too much material for a weekly sermon; having a year to prepare (even […]

Don’t be that kind of mentor

Everyone is a counselor. Everyone is a mentor. Everyone attempts to influence others with their beliefs and belief systems. It might be as simple as trying to convince others of the beauty of a medium-rare steak, or the joys of being a fan of the Texas Rangers (at least this year), or the importance of […]

Q&A: Forgiveness

Q: What does it mean when you say, “We forgive from the heart when confession is not made (Mark 11:25).” This seems to run counter to statements about transacted forgiveness when someone asks for forgiveness by acknowledging sin and one grants forgiveness based on that request. Could you please clarify this as I am a […]

Organizing Resources for Biblical Counseling, Part 2

A few weeks ago I made a case for organizing your biblical counseling resources (or any other discipling and teaching resources you use in caring for others). I had at least one request for the complete list of categories. So here it is. Most of the folders just have the articles and homework ideas sorted […]

Organizing Resources for Biblical Counseling

I don’t have OCD. Really. I don’t. (And denying it doesn’t mean that I do have OCD.) I just like things organized. So my personal library is organized by the Dewey Decimal System. I have more than 20,000 file cards (both printed and digital) of preaching illustrations organized by topic and biblical passage. I have […]

Help and Hope for the Anxious

On the first weekend in April, our church is hosting a one-day conference for our community. We are thrilled to have Stuart Scott as our speaker (he’s written an excellent booklet on the topic). There is no cost for the conference (and lunch is provided), but we do need all participants to register. More information […]

When you are angry

I have recently been re-reading David Powlison’s book, Good and Angry. I found two ideas to be particularly helpful. First, like a good biblical counselor, he reminds us readers to supplant sinful anger with a corresponding righteous replacement. And he reminds us of the nature of God to do that, drawing attention to God’s interaction […]

Praying for Ukraine

Note: This article was updated on March 3, from its original post on February 25. I have been graced to be able to take several trips overseas to teach the Scriptures: Cambodia, Germany, Uganda, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, and Dubai. When the opportunity to travel and teach is given, my first response is to ask my […]

Reflections on teaching overseas

Last week, Pastor Dan Kirk and I taught a course on Marriage and Family Counseling for the Gulf Theological Seminary in Dubai, UAE. The president of the seminary is Eric Zeller, a longtime friend and ministry co-laborer who we began supporting nearly a decade ago. The course was part of an emphasis GTS is making […]

Anger and its Progression

Given the vast number of words that have been identified with anger in the Scriptures (someone has identified more than 500 terms that reflect a form of anger), this may be an overly simplistic overview of the topic. But perhaps this provides you a good place to start thinking about what anger looks like and […]

The problem of emotions

Emotions are the whole-bodied (inner and outer man) response of a person’s values in and evaluations of given circumstances. [That’s a paraphrase from Brian Borgman.] The problem of our emotions is that they have been skewed by the Adamic fall and curse. They no longer operate righteously at all times. They are sorrowful when they […]

Counseling and first impressions

You only have one opportunity to make a first impression. Bad first impressions can be corrected, strengthened, or supplemented so that initial miscues aren’t lasting failures. As first impressions go, Job’s friends were masterful. When Job’s tragic circumstances became known, his friends came immediately to be with him (Job 2:11). No delay, no mental hesitation, […]