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A pastor can find it difficult to
counsel people because our society in general and the church in particular
suffer from impoverished relationships. 100 years ago most people had as
best friends their cousins and siblings. With the technology of
transportation came the suburbs and a transient population. With a
consumer society came general dissatisfaction and a 50% divorce rate. With
Feminism came working mothers, smaller families and households that
resembled lodging for roommates more than for traditional families.
For centuries Satan has been advancing
collectivism (which he needs to leverage his influence over the world). At
the Tower of Babble God indicated his disapproval of man’s collective
efforts. One result of Satan’s success in this regard is the huge impact
of worldliness on Christians. One might consider worldliness to be the
religion of secularism (the worship of man in general and self in
particular).
The bible contrasts walking in the
flesh with walking by the Spirit. However, it can be helpful to cast this
distinction in terms of selfishness and selflessness. Natural man is
driven by self interest. The Greeks attempted to classify the various ways
self interest could be pursued, Hedonism, Epicureanism, and Stoicism. In a
practical sense a person will experience suffering or boredom. There can
be brief periods of contentment (mostly as appetites have been satiated
for the moment).
Christianity brought with it the
opportunity to move past boredom into the realm of happiness. This was now
achievable because of the work of the Holy Spirit that would aid a person
in sublimating selfishness with the selflessness of love (1Cor 13:4-7).
As worldliness extends its reach into
Christian lives and homes, selfishness is allowed greater control over
people’s lives. As the poison of selfishness increases pain in people’s
lives, the Pastor is supposed to be able to respond with solutions.
Many do not even seek pastoral counsel
because the pastor is often seen as unsuited or unable to provide any
useful help. The Corinthians were chided by Paul because they did not even
have one person with sufficient wisdom to settle a dispute. It is
interesting that Christians should be aware that James tells us that God
offers wisdom to all that ask and Solomon exhorts his son to cry out for
wisdom passionately, yet we as a group we might be seen as largely unwise,
Sadly we may even come to substitute the wisdom of the world for godly
wisdom.
It is sad that pastoral prominence is
often based on intellect (which can result in pride) as wisdom is not only
neglected but not even recognized. This is understandable as most did not
recognize in Jesus a wisdom greater than Solomon. A lack of ability to
discern wisdom may reflect too great a familiarity with worldly wisdom.
In a capsule, worldly wisdom is based
on getting what you want. Satan used this to appeal to Eve (you shall not
surely die, you shall be as gods). The superficiality of social media
reduces our identities to a list of preferences. Dating web sites contain
lists of likes and dislikes in a sort of narcissistic assumption that we
will only fall in love with a mirror of ourselves.
The pastor attempting to counsel people
who are so infused with worldly wisdom faces a great difficulty. In a
world of selfishness, who wants to hear that they are selfish. The pastor
may face the additional challenge of he himself having received no useful
training in counseling, may have nothing to offer but general platitudes.
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