Exquisite Counselor

Service this weekend was so moving. I always look forward to the services at Seacoast Greensboro (and I'm not just saying that), but this week God's spirit moved in a way that was a spiritual healing. It was like Jesus looked into my soul and saw some hurts and fears that I did not even realize I was dealing with and just decided to heal them and deal with them without me even asking. Like the time in the scriptures when Jesus saw the funeral procession going by and was compassionate and raised the person from the dead without anyone asking him or even knowing what he was up to. Sean Wood is one of my favorite speakers I think because he teaches in such a way that is so close to my learning style. He is always bouncing around the stage and tells stories that paint pictures of the truth that is coming through the scripture. My favorite are the stories about his little girl. They remind me so much of Seri.

Sean taught about Christ as our Wonderful Counselor. The word in Hebrew for wonderful in this title actually means "too wonderful for words". For myself this translated into "Exquisite Counselor" for my own mind. In other words, a counselor that always knows the right answer for your life, every time, no matter how difficult the situation is. Sean also talked about the fact that Christ knows us better than ourselves so its not like getting advice from someone who only knows half of the story or only part of who you are. He had us imagine what is reality but what we forget most of the time, that we had someone with us, indwelling us, so that person, that advisor knows every situation, every struggle that we have been in. Christ really has been with us every step of the way. He never leaves us, never forsakes us, so who better to advise?

Pastor Sean also talked about how we should be brutally honest with this Exquisite Counselor. Just like in a normal counseling session, the counselor can't help you if you are not completely honest with them about how you are feeling and what really happened. I truly believe for us as humans that our confession is very key for our lives, not just of wrong doing or sin, but of ourselves, how we feel, what we did, how we hurt, what our frustrations are...even if they are with God himself. This is the first step of healing, of help. The woman at the well was the story that Pastor Sean used for this truth.

I love Christ's approach to this woman at the well. He knows that she doesn't really know who he is. He knows that she is broken and hurting, like most of us are as Pastor Sean says. However, he doesn't accuse her of what she is doing wrong, but begins to talk about who he really is. He asks her a question that he knows the answer to, but gives a chance to confess, to be honest about who she is. The woman is at a crossroads with Jesus, this man who might possibly be a pious Jewish teacher, and she can either be honest with him or lie and make herself look good or better than she is. She chooses the honest road, even though it is not the seemingly prettier one. Little does she know that this step opens the door for her to have unlimited access to the Exquisite Counselor because Christ tells her that he can provide her with living water.

I have often wondered what "living water" meant. Did it just mean eternal life as in "never to die." I believe now that it means a relationship with God. A mortal's opportunity to have an intimate, undeserved, loving relationship with an almighty God who really knows you inside and out. And this relationship means that beyond the physicality of things, we know what it really means to live, because life really is being with God, existing as he meant us to exist. It means a human's access to the Creator in an every day, every moment, Christ-is-there-to-guide kind of way.