Guest Post by Pastor Pat Quinn
I recently began a two-year intensive training with 10 recruited people from my church to have more equipped counselors available to handle our church biblical counseling load. What follows is a devotional on the Rich Young Man in Mark 10:17-27 that I gave on our first class. The title (What You Signed Up for Is Impossible) might seem counter-intuitive, but I believe it’s a foundational truth for all biblical counselors.
8 Biblical Counseling Insights from Mark 10:17-27
- The rich young man was eager for “counsel” from Jesus. He “ran up and knelt before him.” Sometimes people eagerly seek our counsel as well.
- He had a clear counseling goal: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” His goal was not only clear, it was intentionally spiritual and he was ready to get to work! This makes counseling so much easier, right?
- Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor, met the young man where he was at: “You know the commandments,” although Jesus clearly had a deeper agenda for him. It also says that “Jesus, looking at him, loved him.” This has all the makings of a successful counseling encounter.
- Jesus saw into the young man’s heart and revealed the one thing that was keeping him from eternal life: his wealth. Jesus wanted to free him from his idol—“sell all that you have and give to the poor”—and to unite him to Himself—“And come, follow me.” Jesus knew that the freedom and fullness the young man desired could only be found in relationship to Him. How wonderful to so quickly get to the true issue and set forth a truly helpful and hopeful goal.
- As the counseling conversation unfolds, we see both a harmony between the young man’s and Jesus’ counseling goals and a profound dissonance. Both wanted the young man to have eternal life. But the terms were radically different. The young man wanted to keep what he felt were doable commandments and also keep the wealth he found his identity and security in. Jesus wanted to free him from self-righteousness and love of wealth and give him true riches and abundant life. What happens when there is a clash of preferred outcomes?
- Now comes the climax of the story: confronted by Jesus’ demand of radical discipleship, the young man “went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” It’s striking and instructive that Jesus didn’t go after him or lower His demand. He let him walk away sorrowful. Has this happened to you, that what you offered as a biblical counselor was not what the counselee wanted?
- Here’s where the title of this devotional comes from. Twice Jesus exclaimed “how difficult it is” for those who are rich to enter the kingdom. His disciples were dumbfounded and cried out, “‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.’” What you signed up for is impossible.
- There we have it. If we are aiming at the same things Jesus is in our counseling— a new heart orientation and life direction—we will find it humanly Humbling and sobering. But possible with God. Encouraging and hopeful.
Why is biblical counseling “impossible” for man and only “possible with God”? John Piper says it well:
“This is the hardest work in the world: to change the minds and hearts of fallen human beings, and make God so precious to each other that we count it all joy when trials come, and exult in our afflictions…. The aim of our ministry to each other is impossible. No techniques will make it succeed. ‘But with God all things are possible.’”[1]
Paul Tripp has called biblical counseling “the counseling no one wants.”
I would add, “and the counseling everyone needs.”
God has called us to the glorious and messy work of changing hearts and lives for the glory of Christ. What we’ve signed up for is impossible for us but gloriously possible for God.
The Rest of the Story
In my follow-up post, we’ll look more closely at how this is possible for God.
Questions for Reflection
- What have you learned about God, yourself, and others from your counseling experience?
- What would you say to a young overconfident counselor?
- What would you say to a weary disheartened veteran counselor?
Pat Quinn: Pat is the Director of Counseling Ministries at University Reformed Church, where he applies his love for the gospel to counseling, training counselors, serving as an elder, consulting, preaching, and occasional worship leading. He has degrees from Michigan State University (BA) and Calvin College (MAT) and received counseling training from the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation. Pat has been a member of URC since 1974 and has been married to Judie since 1976. Pat and Judie have two grown children and six grandchildren. He is a council member of the Biblical Counseling Coalition and part of the blogging team. In addition to his responsibilities at URC, Pat leads the Mid-Michigan Biblical Counselors group.
[1]John Piper, “Counseling with Suffering People,” The Journal of Biblical Counseling, 2003, p.19.
