Good morning! I hope your weekend was restful and that your week is off to a dynamic start. Today I want to speak with you about the issue of accountability.
In today’s world very few people really choose to make themselves accountable to anyone. They go through life haphazardly not really giving much thought to how their words, attitudes and actions affect others. They never really have incentive to change course until a situation gets out of control or the damage inflicted becomes catastrophic.
One of the things I have maintained for many years is a group of people who hold me accountable for the way I conduct my life and the way I lead my ministry. These men and women are given the task of speaking to actions and attitudes in my life that are detrimental to either my ministry or the ministry of the church.
The Bible speaks to this type of relationship in the book of Proverbs:
Proverbs 27:6 (KJV)
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
This past week I had to face the wounds of a friend. I had allowed careless words and actions to cause pain and harm to others around me. Fortunately, I have this group of leaders surrounding me and they were faithful to the task. They spoke the truth in love and through them God opened my eyes to the reality of what was going on within me.
Now I will be the first to tell you it is no fun to be held accountable or to have to seek the forgiveness of those you offend, but there is healing and cleansing in both.
Imagine if you doctor didn’t tell you that he/she had found cancer in your body, because they didn’t want to hurt your feelings. They would be considered negligent. You would want the bad news, because at least you could work towards a solution. To ignore the problem could lead to greater complications and even death.
Too many times we don’t give people permission to be honest with us about what they see in our lives, but we should. The objectivity of another often reveals things about ourselves and our actions that we never even realized were present.
Today I encourage you to hold yourself accountable to someone. This could be something as simple as accountability for a diet or exercise, time with your kids or even deeper spiritual accountability. The transparency may be a little uncomfortable at first, but in the long run you will be a much better person because of it.
Until next Monday may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.
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