Seeking Counsel from others can have true and bless benefits. However, choosing to counsel with ungodly people or people with motives can be harmful.
Christian growth network states: �Two things the Bible makes very clear are the benefit of godly counsel and the detriment of ungodly counsel. �The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.� Proverbs 12:5. Therefore it is IMPERATIVE when seeking counsel that we examine the character and values of the person(s) of whom we received advice. Not only are one�s character and values of utmost importance, we must also factor in a person�s motives when evaluating the merit of their advice. Receiving advice from a person who has a vested interest or potential gain from the decision we make can lead us astray. The more subtle, but equally misleading advice can come from people who care about us, but give advice based on their own fears, insecurities or expectations.�
When seeking counsel, we need to check our own motives too!
I believe that the people we ask for counsel can either be a blessing or a curse in the advice we follow. Often our flesh dictates who we ask for counsel. Not only do we have to watch the motives of others but we have to watch our own motives. It is an easy flesh thing to do when we have a problem with someone to ask advice from someone who will "take our side" instead of looking at things from a Godly perspective. Especially if we feel we have been "wronged" by someone and have feelings of self righteousness or anger - often, I see (and have done so myself in the past) pick people to talk to about the situation or person that will feed that self righteousness and anger because we think it will make us feel better. But things NOT of God do NOT get better. Remember the Devil is here to destroy and kill... that means your godly friendships, marriages and relationships, too. Often when we seek this kind of advice (from people that tell us what we want to hear instead of what we need to hear / and what the Bible says about it) we get more indignant and a once solvable problem snowballs into something that spirals out of control. I've seen this done in many friendships and have experienced it myself. Instead of seeking godly advice, we seek people to join us in our justification of outrage. It becomes about flesh - I'm a saint and they are a sinner! Instead of seeking solutions we seek to justify ourselves and we harden our hearts blindly. Pick your counsel from people who strongly refer to the Bible for all guidance, pick from people who have no ulterior motives and honestly & prayfully examine your motives in who you choose to ask for counsel.
And lastly, we should test everything with the Bible. Christian Growth Network suggests this: �Therefore as we weigh out the counsel we receive from others we need to ask ourselves the question, �Does this advice fit the character and nature of God as portrayed in the Bible?� We should test to see whether the counsel we receive is true and honest, just, pure, loving, of good report and would glorify God. (Philippians 4:8)
Pro 17:27 - As Iron sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another. Seeking counsel from Believers may be one of the most momentous and brilliant thing that can affect you and make a positive impact on your life. However, not just any Christian can be in such a place to offer you an advice. Remember out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks...So a man who will advice you must be such with abundance of good thing. Look at the following verses....
Matthew 12:35 ( King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.))
A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
Also Pro 13:20 - He that walks with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
I agree with the general sentiment that if you have problems you should seek God and Godly advice, but I also think it's important to understand that knowledge is true only because it is true. Truth is independent of the mouth it was uttered from.
It's not like a Christian who teaches you the Pythagorean Theorem is automatically any more correct than the wicked man teaching you the same thing. All that matters is who is actually telling you the truth. After all, if Satan himself discusses math in an accurate manner, it's not like it would make that math any less true.
It's also worth noting that since we are all sinners, we are all wicked in our own ways, so it's more important to individually analyze the truth of what people are saying, than labeling them as righteous or wicked and then blindly believing the righteous and blindly dismissing the wicked. With the obvious exception of believing Jesus, you will only be disappointed by blindly following anyone.
