Confusing Stew

People often present a stew of problems: anger, desires, frustrations, fears, immorality, confusion, defensiveness, cruelty, interpersonal disasters, instability, misery, substance abuse, and anxiety. These defy simple categorization on a behavioral problem list! But such a confusing stew can be tied, item after item, to organizing themes in a person’s life. The Scripture presents many such themes: pride, the fear of man, mammon, the desires of the flesh, idolatry, trust in man and so forth. Biblical counselors need to learn to think thematically about the heart.

David Powlison, Crucial Issues in Contemporary Biblical Counseling, 60.