Prayer Journal
Saturday, October 21, 2000
"So then, each one of us will give an account of himself to God" Rom 14:12
Accountability is a term used a lot in religious circles but strangely few Christians regard it as a necessity in their spiritual journey.
I've seldom been in a meeting of men where at the end, the leader doesn't ask each man to find an accountability partner. The purpose of that process is to assist each person in honoring a decision made during the meeting. It is believed that two can partner together to help each other deliver on something they committed to do. In my experience, none of those partnerships lasted but a couple of weeks beyond the last day of the meeting.
Sadly, in another case, I was asked to hold someone accountable only to be rejected when a discussion involved a very obvious and personal failure. Accountability might have saved that person a lot of grief and provided a means to reach many for Christ. Instead, it brought anger, bitterness and is still destroying relationships even months later.
So, what is accountability, what is the Scriptural foundation for it and how does it work?
Accountability is the sacrifice of one person as they help another person who desperately desires to be faithful to a commitment. It can be a One-way or Two-way relationship and is based on accountability to God. (Cp:Rom 4:12; Heb 4:13) However, mutual accountability is much more difficult to achieve because each person tends to base their action on the other person reaction.
Each of us ends our life with accountability and Scripture is replete with examples that it should also be staple to our daily lives. So why don't we do it?
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. James 5:16a It seems our very health may also depend on it.
Just Thinkin'.. WebServant
(1) Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society
(2) The images used herein were obtained from the Learning Company's ClickArt Christian Graphics Deluxe product, (c)1999 The Learning Company, Inc and its subsidiaries, 88 Roland Way, Novato, CA 94945 USA. All Rights Reserved.
