Joan left John after 24 years of marriage. She cites John’s on-going anger issues, four cases of physical abuse (slap across the face) during their marriage, mental manipulation, consistently being put down, embarrassed in front of their five children, and unwillingness to get help.
In addition to anger and a poor marriage, John struggles with the following:
- Fear of Man (Culturally called insecurity)
- Debt which shows a lack of Self-Control
- Lustful (inordinate desires) thinking and living
- Pornography and Pornographic thinking
- Hypocrisy
- Greed/Materialism
- Lack of Close Friends
- Adulterous temptations
- Weak or diminished faith
John comes to you for counseling. He now wants to reconcile with Joan. He made a profession of faith as a child, but has never consistently lived out his profession. He attends a conservative church, where he was at one time a deacon.
You soon find out that his primary sin issue is fear, which works out as fear of man.
Application Questions
- How does his sin list above relate to the core issue of fear?
- After you “unpacked” John and found out some of his on-going sin issues and temptations (above), why did you conclude that fear was his core problem? (Read my counseling notes from another real session to gain insight on this question.)
- How would you apply the Gospel, assuming he is already a Christian, to his life?
