Self-Help vs. PEACE . . .

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.
Do not let your heart be troubled,
nor let it be fearful.”
~ John 14:27

When people seek counseling they almost invariably come with two problems. First, they have the problem that has troubled them – probably for quite some time -- for which they want a solution.

But their second (often more pronounced) problem is the depressed, distressed, agitated attitude they have toward their problem: the frayed and burdened feelings they have about the problem that blocks their reasoning power and reduces them to a very narrow and rigid view of the problem.

A good counselor knows that there is no use trying to address the person’s initial problem until you first solve the obvious problem they present: Themselves!

They need to be taught how to have peace. If and when they can approach the initial problem with a sense of peace, the dilemma unravels itself.

Jesus said,

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

~John 14:27

This peace that Jesus gives is what a good counselor might well describe as "the ability to cope."

Yet, sadly, one of the spirituality-coated social phenomena of our culture is the self-help movement, wherein peace with ourselves and our circumstances and our past and our future is found miraculously in human achievement. And way too often, when the self-help route takes too long, we resort to other measures like drugs -- prescription and otherwise.

The self-help movement preserves the notion that somewhere and somehow there are secret powers out there that when honed can -- and do -- develop hidden abilities to bring us into a new and higher level of life and experience and spirituality. . .

. . . and blah blah blah.

I will say this straight-up: As a Christian counselor, I very much dislike the whole self-help movement.

See, as long we remain in and of the world and apart from Jesus, we will never know the remarkable secret of HIS peace! Apart from Jesus, peace is just another humanistic pursuit. We spend valuable time and resources searching for and learning techniques and secrets and in the pursuit, are led farther and farther away from the real thing!

Peace is the bequest of Jesus to His followers – the inheritance of true Christians. Without HIM, we can only resort to self-help; and it is a pathetic substitution for the real thing.

Q: How does the world give peace?

A: The self-help movement is a given. And at the risk of being labeled judgmental and narrow-minded and other colorful things, (I've certainly already alienated the self-help crowd) I’m just going to say it: Prescription drugs.

We’re all familiar with the scenario: If/when we are altogether upset over something to the point of being unable to function normally – we probably visit our family doctor for help. It’s just the way we’ve learned to do things in our culture. We ask the doctor for help and he probably gives us some Zanax or Valium or Klonapin or Librium -- chemical peace!

But it wears off. And we’re right back where we were before we took the pill. We have to take more until our mind is dulled and we are half-sedated. This is how the world gives peace.

Oh! Absolutely there are situations where pharmaceuticals are warranted. There aren't too many Christian counselors that have a zero-tolerance policy toward prescription drugs. We do live in a fallen world. But understand: Pharmaceuticals are the WORLD's way to give peace. Not God's!

Consider God's Peace: Consider the serenity with which Jesus moves through all the striking events of his last week on this earth. Consider the moments He stood as a prisoner before Pilate and Herod and the chief priests and the angry mob.

Now consider the peace and serenity He possessed and realize fully what he says . . .

"My peace I give unto you."

In other words:
"The peace I possess, I want to give to YOU."

Jesus speaks here of what Paul calls "peace that passes understanding" (Philippians 4:7). Events do not affect it. Circumstances do not affect it. Our past does not affect it. Our uncertain future does not affect it. Trials and tribulations do not affect it. Other people do not affect it. Political upheaval does not effect it. Economic turmoil does not affect it. (Get the picture?)

Peace from Jesus is internal. It is not subject to anything external. It is not subject to any self-help formula. It is not contingent upon complimentary drug therapy. It is a peace that is entirely baffling to the world, but freely imparted to the true believer. It baffles the world because there is nothing scientific or medical or even "spiritual" (in the word's definition) to explain it.

The peace that "passes understanding" is ours because a part of the Triune God of the Universe dwells IN us. And that Spirit in us is able to handle and overcome every external problem in this world . . . . We have complete and TRUE PEACE.

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

~John 14:27

Need Peace? It begins at the Cross:
Romans 5:1,
Romans 10:15,
Ephesian 2:14,
Colossians 1:20,
Isaiah 26:3,

~ Esthermay V. Bentley-Goossen
© 2009 The Heart of a Pastor's Wife

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This installment of InOtherWords is hosted by Patricia
on her blog, Typing One Handed.

12:29 AM | 15 comments | Read More

Can the Government Help Us?

My nephew Jacob Bentley is conducting a survey for his Senior Government Class and he e-mailed me a link to a survey he'd set up on SurveyMonkey.com.

I took his survey, but the open-ended essay question at the end of the survey absorbed me entirely. Jacob asked, "What can the government do to help with problems like teen drinking, smoking, underage sex leading to unwanted pregnancies and STD's?"

You could say the question struck a nerve in me. Because the truth is . . .

There is very little - if anything - the government can do at this point in our country's history to "fix" the issues of teen drinking, smoking, underage sex leading to unwanted pregnancies, STD's, etc.

Each of these issues is a matter of personal responsibility which choices are based entirely upon one's own moral compass.

There is no moral compass provided by the "government." The one and only moral compass provided to us as human beings was removed from the public school system by the "government" decades ago. The willful rejection of the Bible as our source of divine authority is a direct cause of the current state of immorality in our country. In the years that followed -- and continuing to this day -- the Bible and the Gospel of Jesus Christ continues to be persecuted, eliminated, and otherwise rejected by both our government and society as a whole.

In the early public schools of this country, the BIBLE was one of the main textbooks -- if not the only textbook. But on June 17, 1963 in Abington vs. Schempp, the United States Supreme Court removed the BIBLE and it's readings from public education. The matters suggested in Jacob's question are a direct result of this decision.

Data from the Center for Disease Control and Department of Health and Human Resources and Human Services and Statistical/Abstracts of United States PROVE that rape, murder, alcohol abuse, robbery, suicide, gang warfare, assault, absenteeism, pregnancies, burglary, vandalism, abortions, arson, extortion, venereal disease, bombings, and drug abuse have SKYROCKETED since 1963.

Not so surprisingly, all of society including media, entertainment, criminal behavior, family trends, etc. (even the behaviors of those claiming to be "Christians") have followed the trend.

When it came to education, Noah Webster (of Webster's Dictionary fame) stated: "Education is useless without the BIBLE . God's word, contained in the BIBLE , has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct."

The apostle Paul said, "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3) are hid in Christ Jesus. Education without Christ, who is "The Word of God" (Revelation 19:13, & John 1:1-3) will be void of the wealth of wisdom and knowledge that comes only from our Creator.


The ONLY thing government should be doing to fix the issues suggested in Jacob's question is to humble itself before God and return to the fundamental documents on which our country was founded: The Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Virtually every one of the ten articles contained in the Bill of Rights has Biblical foundation.

Even America's constitutional form of government consisting of three co-equal branches, legislative, executive and judicial is taken directly from Isaiah 33:22.

Our current government -- including our lawmakers, our court systems, and the current presidential administration -- is completely ignoring and egregiously violating the laws and principles contained in our founding documents. As such, our lawmakers have destroyed the country. . . .

There is a way that seems right to a man,
but in the end it leads to death.
~Proverbs 16:25

"The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."
~Psalm 14:1

~ Esthermay V. Bentley-Goossen
© 2009 The Heart of a Pastor's Wife

4:44 PM | 10 comments | Read More