Recently I walked away from an evening of counseling thinking about the incredible privilege it is to sit down and talk to people who wish to hear what God’s Word says about some their deepest hurts and challenges. There is a level of trust and vulnerability in that process that is delightful to experience. The question that came to my mind then, and often is; how should such persons be treated when they open their hearts and lives like that?
One passage of Scripture that guides our answer is 1 Thessalonians 2:7–9 where the apostle Paul was able to joyfully affirm, “But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.” Our counselees should not only receive sound doctrine from us but also a Christlike approach that
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