Counselors can do significant damage to those they seek to help by treating the counseling process like it’s a formula. “Take two verses and call me in the morning.” Biblical counseling, however, is never formulaic. To be truly helpful we need to treat each case individually, with attention to the unique features that it brings to the table. Truly helpful counsel is case-specific.
In his first epistle to the Thessalonians Paul demonstrates the importance of case-specific counseling. Dealing with different people requires us to respond differently. Paul writes:
And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. (1 Thess. 5:14)
Paul lists here three different kinds of people. These are not, of course, the only kinds of cases we see, but his short list demonstrates the importance of responding differently to different people. So, people who are idle need to be admonished, the fainthearted need to be encouraged, and the weak need to be helped. Wayne Mack comments on the fact that Paul does not say “admonish the fainthearted,” he says:
I believe it is significant that Paul did not say, “Admonish the fainthearted.” Faintheartedness is not necessarily a sin; people can end up in that category simply because of difficult trials and disappointments that can cause them to struggle with discouragement…Sometimes I fear that we biblical counselors are too quick to label discouragement a sin and call for repentance from people when we should first show them compassion and provide encouragement. (ed. by John MacAthur, Counseling, 152)
There is something unique about faintheartedness that requires a different response. Admonishing the fainthearted would harm the counselee. Paul’s keen insight here needs to be applied broadly in the biblical counseling relationship. We might speak, then, of several key implications of case-specific counseling.
Case-specific counseling requires us to listen to the actual concerns, emotions, and struggles of the counselee. It is tempting to presume you know the root issue of a situation and the corresponding solution before you actually hear all the information. Someone comes to you and says, “I struggle with anxiety, can I meet with you.” It is tempting to immediately start planning what you’re going to say, the homework you’re going to give, and the course of action this person needs to take because, after all, you’ve counseled people with anxiety in the past. We can presume that this case will be just like previous ones. But by ignoring the specifics of this case we may end up doing real harm to a counselee. Not every case of anxiety is the same and treating them as such is to ignore the individual sitting before you. Anxiety is related to people who have experiences. Like all struggles, there are details about a person’s life and experience and personality that, if overlooked, could lead to all kinds of harm. Treating a man who is genuinely broken over his adultery the same way you treat a man who is a serial adulterer and only at counseling because he got caught would crush the spirit of the former, or excuse the unrepentance of the latter.
Case-specific counseling requires that we appropriately identify heart issues. The uniqueness of each case means that the heart issues are also unique. Busyness in one person may derive from a demand for control, while in another person it stems from a fear of man (the worry that saying “no” will disappoint others). We cannot boil every struggle down to the same root. Listening to what people actually say will help us to answer the real questions and concerns they have and diagnose problems more accurately.
Case specific counseling requires that we trust the Holy Spirit. If we approach cases in a formulaic fashion we have no need of God’s Spirit. We can simply rely on the same tried and true methods from previous cases. Our default worksheet, Bible verse, and plan of action will do just fine. To truly be helpful, however, we have to trust that the Spirit of God knows precisely how to apply grace and truth to the unique situation that this individual is experiencing. We must pray for discernment and follow His leading. The Spirit desires to work in a myriad of ways and He knows which ways are best. He is the real counselor, we are simply the tools in His hands to promote sanctification. Follow His direction, not your previous methods.
Finally, case-specific counseling requires that we use the whole of Scripture. There are far too many, well-intentioned, counselors who boil every situation down to a simple piece of advice: remember the gospel. The advice generally assumes that the root of a person’s struggle is that they are not living out the gospel, remembering the gospel, or believing the gospel. The solution, then, is for this person to focus again on the truth that Jesus died for their sins. I am all for the gospel, even for the centrality of the gospel in all things, and yet there is something incredibly reductionist and simplistic about this counsel. David Powlison has brilliantly and carefully addressed the faulty assumptions behind this advice. He writes:
[There is] a popular view that teaches that Christian growth is essentially and continually a matter of digging more deeply into how God forgives and accepts us:
You are sanctified by remembering and believing afresh that you are justified by what Jesus did on the cross for you.
Is that true? I think the Bible’s answer to this pastoral and practical question is straightforward: sometimes Yes, often No. Here is a metaphor. Scripture portrays sanctification in a range of colors and shades. There are reds, yellows, and blues – with 16.8 million shades in between. So any monochromatic view of sanctification is like saying, “You are sanctified by the color red.” For some Christians, some of the time, amid some life struggles, to remember the color red – justification by Christ’s death – proves pivotal. For other Christians, at other times, facing other specific struggles, other colors prove pivotal. (“How Does Sanctification Work?”, Journal of Biblical Counseling 27:1, 52).
There are some people who get the gospel, and firmly believe that Christ has paid the penalty for their sins. What they struggle with is not directly related to that. My friend who struggles with same-sex attraction firmly believes that Jesus has paid the penalty for his sins, but he still wants help in resisting temptation and living with a burdensome orientation. There’s got to be more in our tool belt than simply “believe that Jesus died for your sins,” as powerful as that is. All of Scripture is “profitable” the apostle tells us (2 Tim. 3:16). Case-specific counseling requires us to consult all of it to provide practical help relevant to the individual we are counseling.
It is possible with the best of intentions to ultimately do real harm to counselees. We must remember that each case is unique, that counseling is not formulaic, and that God’s Spirit will lead us to be most helpful if we will submit to His leading. Biblical counseling is, then, case-specific counseling.
Sparrow & Heart Soul Care 