The latest issue of the Journal of Biblical Counseling is now available ($12 for a year’s electronic subscription of three issues), this one containing the following pieces:
From the Editor’s Desk
David Powlison
More Than a Proof Text
David Powlison introduces our new column: “More Than a Proof Text.” These short articles demonstrate how a Scripture passage becomes a personalized message, how ministry engages a person. These are not Bible studies. Though careful study and accurate exposition reside in the background, these articles illustrate ministry happening in the foreground. Each connects the dots between a person’s complex struggles and a simple truth that bids to rearrange that person’s reality in a vivid and relevant way.
Featured Articles
Jayne V. Clark
Struggling through Singleness
Many single brothers and sisters in the church long for the companionship and friendship of marriage. In this article, Jayne Clark offers her hard-won wisdom on what it looks like to wrestle well with the Lord about the desire for marriage. Along the way, Clark clears up the meaning of the familiar phrase “the gift of singleness” and why marriage is not the answer to loneliness.
Darby Strickland
Entitlement: When Expectations Go Toxic
A sense of entitlement is a serious problem that can plague relationships. Darby Strickland shows how a person’s self-centered desires can become adamant, rigid demands that destroy love and mutuality. She identifies the key beliefs of an entitled person, provides a biblical framework for understanding the problem, and offers counseling strategies to help bring the entitled person to a renewed relationship with Christ and others.
Ed Welch
How to Talk with Someone about Sin
Though we tend to avoid talking with others about their sin, God has called us to encourage one another by speaking the truth in love. Ed Welch prepares us to move toward fellow sinners graciously by examining ourselves, learning to see the good in others, and acknowledging hard circumstances. He then gets specific about how to engage with people directly and winsomely.
David Powlison
Ten Questions to Ask before Starting a Counseling Ministry in Your Church
This article is for church leaders who are thinking about starting a counseling ministry. Rather than a “how to” guide, Powlison offers ten questions to help a church gain a better understanding of itself and its context. Each question is followed by a short discussion that further orients leaders as to what to consider before moving forward.
Sermon
Matthew C. Mitchell
Why Is This Sordid Story in the Bible?: Four Reasons to Read about the Rape of Tamar
Adapting a sermon he preached on this passage, Mitchell walks us through the violent and shameful details of 2 Samuel 13. These include evil scheming, rape, murder, a banished son and a passive king. It’s easy to want to avoid this story, but there are good and important reasons why it is in the Bible.
Counselor’s Toolbox
Lauren Whitman
More Than a Proof Text: “You Are Dust – And God Gets That”
Have you ever thought to use Psalm 103:13–14 to encourage those who struggle with perfectionism? Probably not. But Lauren Whitman shows how these verses can comfort and motivate by bringing home how we are inanimate dust – always in need of animating power from outside ourselves. This reality evokes a joyful dependency.
Michael Gembola
More Than a Proof Text: “Men – Treat Women as Sisters”
There are many passages in Scripture that speak against sexual lust, but Michael Gembola uses 1 Timothy 5:2 to recast the vision for how men are to view women. By tapping into the power of a God-given incest taboo, Gembola offers hope to men that, in Christ, they are able to view women as they would female family members.
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