Powlison continues his series on Friendship Counseling. In part two he makes the point that the two key questions we should be aksing our friends are the same questions we should be asking the Bible:
- What are you facing?
- What about God is relevant to you and your situation?
He notes that the Bible is not primary systematic or biblical theology, but practical theology dealing with everyday life in everyday stories. So, he tells us to:
“Live your life within God’s Story. But the Bible itself is neither a storybook nor the grand story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. The Bible is some other kind of thing.” The Bible is a book communicating a multitude of ways that God intersects life. If I had to pick one descriptive term, I’d say that the Bible as a whole is practical theology happening in real time. We see and hear God revealing Himself into particular struggles and tensions of actual human lives.
Here is an example of how to do this to better counsel yourself and others.