Which Gospel Matters to You?

In the Summer 2007 edition of “The Journal of Biblical Counseling”, David Powlison, in an article entitled “The Therapeutic Gospel”, gives a very helpful contrast between the Therapeutic Gospel (what the world would have us to believe about ourselves and our true needs) and the True Gospel (what God says about us and our true needs). It is worth summarizing because we can all tend to view ourselves through the lens of the Therapeutic Gospel – it is the way of the world around us.

The Therapeutic Gospel promises to feed the following wants:

· I want to feel loved for who I am, to be pitied for what I’ve gone through, to feel intimately understood, to be accepted unconditionally.

· I want to experience a sense of personal significance and meaningfulness, to be successful in my career, to know my life matters, to have an impact.

· I want to gain self-esteem, to affirm that I am ok, to be able to assert my opinions and desires.

· I want to be entertained, to feel pleasure in the endless stream of performances that delight my eyes and tickle my ears.

· I want a sense of adventure, excitement, action, and passion so that I experience life as thrilling and moving.

Do any of these desires sound familiar? These are the desires of people who have their basic needs for food, shelter and safety met. We all identify with such desires and all have them, but when they rule our lives they send us to different gods and different truths than the Sovereign God and his eternal truth.

The True Gospel brings us back to reality as God rules over it, defines our true needs as creatures made in His image, and reworks our wants in the process:

· I need mercy above all else.

· I want to learn wisdom, and unlearn willful self-preoccupation.

· I need to learn to love both God and neighbor.

· I long for God’s name to be honored, for His kingdom to come, for His will to be done on earth.

· I want Christ’s glory, loving-kindness, and goodness to be seen on earth, to fill the earth as obviously as water fills the ocean.

· I need God to change me from who I am by instinct, choice, and practice.

· I want Him to deliver me from my obsessive self-righteousness, to slay my lust for self-vindication, so that I feel my need for the mercies of Christ, so that I learn to treat others gently.

· I need God’s mighty and intimate help in order to will and to do those things that last unto eternal life, rather than squandering my life on vanities.

· I want to learn how to endure hardship and suffering in hope, having my faith simplified, deepened, and purified.

· I need to learn, to listen, to worship, to delight, to trust, to give thanks, to cry out, to take refuge, to obey, to serve, to hope.

· I want the resurrection to eternal life.

· I need God Himself.

Which gospel will be your answer this week?