Remembering David Powlison (1949-2019)

Since my introduction to him in 2011, one of the most impactful teachers in my life has been Dr. David Powlison, the Executive Director of Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF).  Back in October, David received the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and began keeping a log of his health journey. The posts and updates may still be viewed here, and while they bring tears to my eyes, they are a treasure trove of insight, tender care, and unshakeable faith in the God who provides.  Through the ups and downs of good news, bad news, deceptively positive test results, and the debilitating side-effects of chemo, David maintained an incredible testimony of trust in the Lord, compassionate care for his wife and family, and devotion to his ministry. On Friday, June 7th, David went home to be with the Lord.  Appropriately, the announcement from CCEF came with a citation of 2 Timothy 4.7: "He fought the good fight, he finished the race, he kept the faith."

Briefly, here are just a few of the more significant treasures of wisdom I've gleaned sitting under Dr. Powlison's teaching, whether it be at conferences, listening to podcasts, or simply reading any of his numerous published resources.  I've added emphases, but the words are all Dr. Powlison's.

On the true nature of God's unconditional love (taken from the book Seeing With New Eyes, a 2003 publication):

If you receive blanket acceptance, you need no repentance. You just accept it. It fills you without humbling you. It relaxes you without upsetting you about yourself -- or thrilling you about Christ. It lets you relax without reckoning with the anguish of Jesus on the cross. It is easy and undemanding. It does not insist on, or work at, changing you. It deceives you about both God and yourself. We can do better. God does not accept me just as I am; he loves me despite how I am. He loves me just as Jesus is; he loves me enough to devote my life to renewing me in the image of Jesus.

Addressing the way Christians may practically meet the needs of fallen people (from the 2011 conference on Psychiatric Disorders):

• We can always bring steady human kindness
• We can always say something that is relevant; therefore, we must speak with clarity about hardships and realities
• We can always speak to and about that Someone who is merciful and powerful -- prayer is sanity

On learning to acknowledge our deep spiritual need (from the 2012 conference on Guilt & Shame):

If you know your guilt, then you can be forgiven.  If you know your weakness, then you can be strengthened.  If you know your brokenness, you can be made whole. If you don't know these things, then they cannot be corrected.  Knowing is the first step to overcoming.  The humility of knowing our need and asking for help is the necessary principle toward restoration.

On being rightly angry but loving well (from his 2016 book, Good & Angry)

Charity does what the recipient doesn't deserve... you can fiercely disagree with a person and actively dislike what he or she is doing -- all the stuff of anger -- and yet you can still do genuine kindness. Anger grips tightly a wrong, points it out, prosecutes it, punishes it. Mercy acts generously toward a wrongdoer, rather than claiming your pound of flesh. Anger things this way: "I've been wronged, so I will deal out fair and just punishment to the malefactor." But generosity, like patience and forgiveness is "unfair." You treat with purposeful kindness someone who treated you or others badly.

On biblical sexuality (from his 2017 book, Making All Things New)

Our culture asserts that any consenting object of desire is fair game for copulation. Individual will and personal choice are the supreme values. But Christ thinks differently, and he will get last say. That's important. "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience" (Eph 5.6). Each of the distortions makes sex too important (and makes the Maker, evaluator, and Redeemer of sex irrelevant). Sex becomes your identity, your right, your fulfillment, your need. This is moral madness.

On a very personal note, learning to face your own mortality (from his Feburary 1, 2019 blog update)

The more precarious life is, the more pertinent all that Christ is, does, and says. One particular significant encouragement came from Psalm 138:3: “On the day I called you answered me, and you made me bold in my soul with strength.” That clarity, focus, purposefulness, and inner strength has been a sweet gift of God, and a reality for which I am very grateful. Before sleep one night, Nan and I read 2 Corinthians 4–5 slowly and aloud. We are looking death in the eye, while wanting to live, and live well. This passage is utterly candid about the most profound matters of life and death, of living a purposeful life, of how to face suffering honestly and hopefully. 

My lasting impressions of David are of a man who deeply loved the Lord and who treasured the opportunity to help others love Jesus in the same way.  I know from his testimony that David was rescued by faith from a cynical, secular worldview into a new perspective. He came to see men and women as people broken by sin but supremely loved by God, in need of rescue, in need of truth, and made biblical counseling his life's work.  He was a faithful servant from the moment of his conversion, and remained a devoted husband and an exemplary follower of Jesus Christ to his homegoing.

It is my prayer that I may be to my wife and son, and to all those under my care, the type of committed, forthright, and spiritually wise man that David Powlison exemplified for me.