Throw Away the Band Aids

Matthew 9:12-13

But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. "But go and learn what this means: 'I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,' for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

So many these days try to fix their problems with a band aid. When I think of liberal psychology today I envision a person who sees a paper cut on their finger. The individual then realizes they need to fix the problem, so they get a band aid from the bathroom cabinet. After a day of keeping a band aid on their finger they realize they didn’t fix the problem because the cut is infected. How do they solve the problem? Change the band aid. Soon the cut is a blistering puss filled cesspool. The person with the paper cut got one crucial fact wrong in the beginning of the process; they perceived the issue to be a paper cut when in reality their entire hand had been cut off.

Modern day psychology misses step one of the healing process. There are nuggets of truth to be found in the field of psychology but they typically miss out on one fundamental truth: the nature of man. J.C. Ryle says, "Wrong views of a disease will always bring with them wrong views of a remedy. Wrong views of the corruption of human nature will always carry with them wrong views of the grand antidote and cure of that corruption." The fundamental difference between modern day pschology's view of man is that man is basically good and his problems are external, whereas Biblical Christ-centered counseling tells us that man is completely corrupt and his basic problem is internal.

Today's psychologists hand out band aids, and if the first band aid doesn't work they hand out another one. Biblical Christ-centered counseling adjusts the perspective of its patients first by giving them a glimpse into the reality of their condition. The glimpse is Christ hanging on the cross, marred by sins ugliness. Only by looking at the cross can we understand the seriousness of our condition; sin is the issue and it has polluted us. Author J.I. Packer address’ the importance of understanding sin when he says,"If you have not learned about sin, you cannot understand yourself, or your fellow-men, or the world you live in, or the Christian faith.”

A firm understanding of sin and grace, justice and mercy, and kindness that leads to repentance found in the gospel will heal our ailments and solve our problems more deeply than the band aids offered by today’s culture. In a teaching called, “Another Gospel”, author and speaker C.J. Mahaney says, “Popular literature and teaching today begins with man and then proceeds to make God in our image according to our preferences.”

The gospel is the fountain of youth for the old man that lives inside of us all. The center of the gospel story is the main character, Jesus Christ, the healer and great physician. “Jesus Christ does not merely give better answers to psychological questions, He gives the only answers to questions psychology does not even ask, much less answer.”