Family Counselor

QUESTION: What should I look for in a family counselor?

ANSWER:

When looking for a family counselor, we need to take our need into consideration. For instance, when we have problems with the family car we do not take that car to the corner drug store. We take it to a car dealer or a qualified car mechanic. The mechanic must be "qualified" because there are some people who say they repair cars but are dishonest or inept at best. Oftentimes, we find out too late that the person we trusted to repair our car is not what they claimed to be. We cannot afford to be deceived when it comes to picking a family counselor. A lot of research needs to be conducted before we choose someone whose advice, if taken, will impact the lives of our entire family.

The best place to start looking for a family counselor is at your local church. Very often the family counselors who have hung up shingles are little more than licensed "dear Abby's" with a degree in psychology. They often contain knowledge based on human viewpoint and have a license to proscribe drugs that mask the problem. If a problem with in the family is serious enough to seek an outside family counselor, then the need is for more than human viewpoint and worldly answers. The need is spiritual and should be approached from a solid Biblical basis. The problems that beset the family today are spiritual in nature and deal with the values of the world encroaching upon our families and tearing them apart.

The Bible has practical principles that help families get back to a balance using divine viewpoint rather than human viewpoint. All issues of relationship, commitment, and authority begin and end with the heart attitude of each of the individual members of the family. Therefore the individual relationship of each member with the God of creation is a factor in solving family issues. The way to correct our human relationships is to correct our individual relationship with God through the LORD Jesus Christ. With this as the beginning and with the aide of a Bible-believing family counselor, the serious matters that cause separation in a family can be recognized and resolved.