Felt need are frequently taken as self-evident necessities to be acquired, not as deceptive slave-masters. Our culture of need reinforces the flesh’s instincts and habits. In most cases, a person’s felt needs are slang for idolatrous demands for love, understanding, a sense of being in control, affirmation, and achievement.
— David Powlison (1949–2019), Seelsorger, Theologe, Dozent und Autor der biblischen Seelsorgebewegung (CCEF)
Topics: Meaning & Identity, Temptation & Struggle, Ethical Questions
Occasions: For Reflection
David Powlison
David Powlison (1949–2019) war ein US-amerikanischer evangelikal-reformierter Seelsorger, Theologe und langjähriger Leiter der Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF). Er prägte die Weiterentwicklung der biblischen Seelsorgebewegung hin zu einem gnadenorientierten Ansatz, stieß mit seiner Abgrenzung von säkularer Psychotherapie und Psychiatrie jedoch auch auf fachliche Kritik. Für Bibelleser veranschaulicht sein Werk, wie theologische Aussagen der Schrift auf persönliche Lebenskrisen, seelische Nöte und zwischenmenschliche Konflikte bezogen werden können.
All quotes by David Powlison (36)
You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.
Augustine of Hippo
Jesus calls us not to a new religion, but to life.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found.
Henri Nouwen
To love a person means to see them as God meant them to be.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Inner dignity remains, even when performance capacity and social role decline.
Anselm Grün
There is a God, and I'm not him.
John Mark Comer
God has put eternity into our hearts and filled it with longing.
John Piper
Prayers are tools not for doing or getting, but for being and becoming.
Eugene Peterson