Council of Counselors: Validation in Counseling / Preaching & Counseling / Pornography & Divorce / Sleep Deprived Thinking

This is a weekly post that highlights resources from other counselors that I have found helpful. The counselors may be from the biblical counseling, Christian psychology, integration, or secular counseling traditions. By linking to a post, I am not giving it my full endorsement, I am merely indicating that I believe it made a unique contribution or raised an important subject for consideration.

The Use of Validation in Counseling by Eliza Jane Huie

Including validation in biblical counseling is essential as it strengthens the counseling relationship and encourages personal progress in counseling.

• If you enjoyed this article, you might also like Can Someone Be Spiritually Healthy and Still Experience Mental Health Challenges?

The Relationship Between Preaching and Counseling by Jim Newheiser

The public ministry of the Word (preaching) and the private ministry of the Word (counseling), rather than being in competition actually enhance one another.

• If you benefited from this article, you might also want to read What Changes for a Church when Counseling Becomes Formal?

Is Pornography Use Ever Grounds for Divorce? by Thomas Shreiner

In Matthew 5:32 and 19:9, Jesus gives grounds for divorce based on sexual immorality (porneia). Is that your understanding of the text? Does pornography use ever qualify as porneia? If so, does just one use of pornography qualify? Must it be a habit? An addiction? How would you work through it pastorally if an exasperated church member came to you convinced that he or she wanted divorce because of their spouse’s porn addiction?

• If you wanted to delve more into the pastoral or counseling implications of this question, you might want to read my extended article Is Pornography Biblical Grounds for Divorce?

Why You Can’t Think Straight When You’re Sleep Deprived by Michael Breus

After a bad night of sleep, we all typically feel distracted and off our mental game. But do you really know all the ways a lack of sleep interferes with your cognitive performance? Most of my patients are surprised to learn just how broadly a lack of sleep affects their ability to think at their best.

• If you like learning about the impact of the brain on life, you might want to read Brain Research, Biblical Counseling, and the Change Process: Habits.

What I’m Reading

The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World by Rosaria Butterfield. What did God use to draw a radical, committed unbeliever to himself? Did God take her to an evangelistic rally? Or, since she had her doctorate in literature, did he use something in print? No, God used an invitation to dinner in a modest home, from a humble couple who lived out the gospel daily, simply, and authentically.

With this story of her conversion as a backdrop, Rosaria Butterfield invites us into her home to show us how God can use this same “radical, ordinary hospitality” to bring the gospel to our lost friends and neighbors. Such hospitality sees our homes as not our own, but as God’s tools for the furtherance of his kingdom as we welcome those who look, think, believe, and act differently from us into our everyday, sometimes messy lives―helping them see what true Christian faith really looks like.

Tweets of the Week

Meaningful Meme

On the Lighter Side

Because, “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones,” Proverbs 17:22.