Many of us would be relieved if God had placed our sanctification in the hands of trained professionals, but that is not how he works. Paul David Tripp argues that God uses people in need of change to help other people in need of change, and he builds a model for that work from Scripture: entering a person's world, coming to know them truly, speaking the truth in love, and helping them do what God calls them to do.

The book has become a standard text in biblical counseling courses because it treats counseling as an extension of the ordinary life of the church rather than a specialty practiced elsewhere. Tripp is unsparing about the heart of the helper as well as the helped, and the framework he lays out - Love, Know, Speak, Do - has shaped a generation of pastors, elders, small group leaders and ordinary members who want to be useful to the people around them.