ACCOUNTABILITY keeps cropping up in my world lately! It’s not that I am not accountable to people or, of course, the Holy Spirit. And I’m definitely accountable to my family. It’s not being accountable that I struggle with––I struggle with some of the principles of ACCOUNTABILITY. Like the degree of honesty in my accountability, the passion to remain accountable, and the hard work of helping those that I am closest to be accountable. I keep seeing that ACCOUNTABILITY is not easy or fun. It is hard work!
One of the struggles I encounter in BEING ACCOUNTABLE is that I don’t want to admit to sin––I don’t want to get caught. It’s like my spirituality as a Husband, Dad, and Pastor will somehow be challenged, forgetting all the while that I am human first. Scripture tells us that “there is nothing, except that which is common to man,” and that “Christ is our scapegoat” (Lev. 16). Our relationship with Christ provides us with grace and forgiveness, not a highway of loneliness and guilt!
James 5:16 tells us that “if we confess our sins to one another, that we will be healed!” I often think “healed of what?” Probably not temptation. After all, we live in a fallen world. Perhaps, I will be healed of my own propensity for the lustful desires of my youth . . . MAYBE. How about being healed of the apathy that comes when I am too prideful to repent or TO BE ACCOUNTABLE? That keeps me from moving in the fullness that God has for me! I want passionately TO BE ACCOUNTABLE, so that I can be healed of any “thorn” that keeps me from growing towards the cross of Christ! I want to be passionate about ACCOUNTABILITY!
How about helping those I love so much TO BE ACCOUNTABLE? Prov. 27:17 became a life verse for me about 5 years ago. I was able to be placed amongst a group of men that became passionate about each other’s growth! (By the way, I miss that group of coaches. We don’t talk a whole lot anymore, due to the fact that we are spread out over the United States, but we are brothers; and when we do talk, we just pick up where we left off.) That passion for each other is something that I want to have in more relationships that are currently in my life. Having those relationships built on honesty and ACCOUNTABILITY last for a lifetime. “As iron sharpens iron, So a friend sharpens a friend.” I want to be a sharp friend, so I can have sharp friends!
ACCOUNTABILITY is hard work! It’s not glamorous. But then again, it wasn’t glamorous when Christ died on the cross! ACCOUNTABILITY happens so that we and those we love don’t have to die in a life of loneliness and guilt. We will live a full life of freedom and victory!
STAY ACCOUNTABLE MY FRIENDS, STAY ACCOUNTABLE!