Skip to main content

Accountable--Who Needs It?

Accountability is one of those words we avoid. It's downright uncomfortable and we tend to become instantly defensive. It's kind of like using "budget" in a sentence. Both of these words have negative connotations, but both are in reality good. Everyone has a budget--some are bigger than others, but we all have financial limits.

Accountability is everywhere in the work world, from a timesheet to using the company credit card. As believers we need to be accountable for the life we live. The word is defined as the state of being accountable, liable, or answerable. (dictionary.com) Humans don't like to answer for their actions. Watch the news and see how people work so hard to squirm out of being responsible for their own behavior. Accountability is living a transparent life, one full of God's light shining unhindered to a very dark world.

Everyone will stand before God one day and give an account of his or her life. Romans 14:12 says, "So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God." As Christians, we will give Him an answer about what we've done for Christ. We won't answer for the sins we've committed; they are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. But we will answer for how we've lived as Christians.

Paul's letter to the Corinthian church comes to mind in 1 Cor. 3:11-13.
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.
Life is full of choices--opportunities to do good, do evil, or do nothing at all. Lest you think that doing nothing might be the safest route, here's what James has to say about that:
If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. James 4:17.
It's hard to stay encouraged and live as we should. Many Christians like to keep one foot in the world and one in the church. The lure of what the world offers snares us --making more money, having more stuff, being popular, focusing on entertainers' lifestyles rather than the way Jesus lived, and the ever popular "everyone else is doing it" keep us from walking with our Savior.

If you're serious about "laying up treasure in heaven," an accountability partner is invaluable in staying focused and committed. Charles Stanley warns us "Among the Christians you know, do you have even one relationship that involves praying together, transparency, counseling each other, and mutual encouragement? If not, you may be headed toward spiritual stagnation or disaster."

The reason is two-fold. Satan certainly wants to render believers ineffective and we are drawn away and enticed by daily temptations. Some very special women have been accountability partners in different seasons of my life. The mutual encouragement and counsel we shared are treasured times.
We were designed to do life together--to help carry each others burdens, pray for one another, ask the hard questions so that the account we give to Jesus on that Day will be one that is full of joy.

Comments

Unknown said…
I'd add that if you're raising children, it's tough to teach them accountability if you're not willing to be accountable yourself.
February 14, 2014
Laurinda Wallace said…
I totally agree. Parents have to set the example and show their children what it looks like.
February 15, 2014
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Victim of Circumstances?

 The article below has been getting a lot of hits lately, and I thought it may be time to repost it. A couple of weeks ago, I took the picture below. I thought it pretty much sums up our life journey. We never know what's around the corner for us.  Circumstances change in seconds some days. Whether the circumstances of life are good or bad, we're fond of blaming them for how we behave and think. Here are a few of the well-used excuses:  "I'm a victim of circumstances.""The situation is impossible." "The circumstances are beyond my control." "Under the circumstances"...fill in the blank. Funny how principles, self-control, and  positive thinking can go out the window when we're "under the circumstances."  And lest you think the author is above blaming circumstances, she is not. I've used most of the excuses above, whether spoken or unspoken.  An imprisoned and wrongly accused Jewish C...
1 comment
Read more

The Castile Knapper

It's always fun to have family members who have a bit of notoriety because of interesting pursuits. My husband's cousin, Ken Wallace is one of those.  Ken is an artist who works in stone as a flintknapper. Flintknapping is the ancient art of shaping tools and weapons from pieces of stone. Knapping was part of the survival skill set of Native Americans. Arrowheads, knives, hatchets, and more were shaped from raw pieces of flint or chert.  Ken knapping at the Wallace Reunion Ken became interested in this process back in 1985. One of his favorite pastimes was searching fields for arrowheads, both of which are pretty plentiful in Western New York. Freshly plowed ground in rural areas often yields many different types of arrowheads since the Iroquois were the original residents of what are now corn fields and cow pastures. Fascinated with how the Iroquois made their weapons and tools, Ken started to try and recreate them. He says a lot of trial and error were involved in the...
1 comment
Read more

Second Chances

Tonight, I'll be teaching a women's Bible study at our little church on the border. We're studying the book of Jonah. It's a familiar Sunday School Bible story, many of us have heard over the years. It's easy to focus on the "great fish" and there have been innumerable debates over the actual "great fish" that swallowed Jonah. However, the fish is a minor player in this book. The real focus of the four short chapters is the dialogue between God and Jonah. God begins the conversation with Jonah, who's a well known prophet in Israel. He tells him to go to Nineveh, a great city in Assyria and tell them that God's judgment is coming. Now the Assyrians were Israel's archenemies, despised and hated by any self-respecting Israelite. There was a reason for this. The Assyrians were unspeakably cruel and wicked. Israel had been captured, plundered, and massacred by these people. Judgment for the Assyrians was probably music to the prophet...
2 comments
Read more