Thinking His Thoughts, Seeing His Way

It is still very early days as a pastor here in Watford; seems I have had to learn so much in such a short space of time. One pivotal area of learning is that of Pastoral Counseling. Many, many people are overwhelmed with problems no matter into which Pastoral context God places you, so it is good to seek His wisdom and insight as to how to best go about this. I have been led to a book (mentioned by several individuals actually) and early on am struck by what the author (David Powlinson) has to say regarding how knowing God changes your awareness and understanding of Humanity, allowing you to search far deeper than others who 'lock' His views regarding human nature out of their process.(Both the nature of others and your own)

Here are some brilliant words from the opening pages:

"To think Christianly is 'to think God's thoughts after him.' Of course, our thinking is both finite and distorted. We never see it all; and we often misconstrue what we do see. We see in a glass darkly, skewed reflections in a battered bronze mirror - but we do see. God, who sees all things directly in full daylight, enlightens the eyes of our hearts. We see surfaces, catching glimpses of interiors; God sees into the inky or radiant depth of every heart, all the way down to the fundamental hate or fundamental love. Our glasses are sometimes rosy, sometimes jaundiced, sometimes bluesy, sometimes mirrored on the inside of the lens (so that all we can see are the turbulent contents of our own interiors). The madness of our hearts generates warped spectra. But God sees all things in bright, clear light - and this God is the straightener of crooked thoughts."

Seek His thoughts...

Simon