The importance of being accountable. There is little argument that our
lives are accountable to God. Everything we do, everything we say, we will
one day have to answer to God. I don't want to gloss over this point,
because it is very important. The fact that we don't see anyone actually
giving an account for his/her life on Court TV doesn't mean it won't
happen. The Bible clearly tells us that this is a very real event that we
each will face one day. However, I wonder how many of us really are thinking
in the course of a day, as we make decisions and live our lives, about this
very fact. I submit to you today that we would probably not do many of the
things we do, or say many of the things we say, if we were really focused on
the Biblical fact that one day we will stand before our God and give an
account for our lives. Using this Biblical premise, let me then address the
point of today's Devotional.....the importance of being accountable.
Every single one of us SHOULD HAVE someone in our life that we are
accountable to, someone that we have to answer to, someone who will hold
us accountable as we live our life each day. My friend, this is
absolutely the most effective mechanism I know of to living a life that will make
the Lord proud of us. It is the greatest form of self-protection we can
have. You see, our greatest enemy is ourselves. Anything we can do to
protect ourselves from ourselves will go a long way to living a life that is
pleasing and acceptable before God. Let me say right here, that this is
something YOU must believe in and be wholly submitted to for it to work. If
you aren't committed to it, it WILL NOT work. It requires our humbling
ourselves and being 100% honest before those we are going to be accountable
to for it to work. Again, we are going to one day stand before God and be
accountable for our lives, so why not start that process now.
This will require much prayer to find that person you can be accountable to.
Trust me, God will help you and lead you to that person or those persons.
Each one of us has different areas of weakness, and we should start out
focusing on those critical areas of our life. We need to share our
innermost thoughts and secrets. We need to share how we fall into
temptation. I speak often of having a battle plan to win the battles. The
person you are accountable to will help you formulate a viable plan to see
victory, and then be responsible for holding you to that plan. Just as you
are being held accountable by someone, you should have someone in your life
you are holding accountable. It is an investment in someone's life, but
that is what the essence of this Christian journey is about. Sharing your
life with others.
I really do love you and care about your life. The only reason we would not
embrace being accountable to someone is because we are involved in
situations that we know are wrong...and we are not ready to let them go.
God is speaking to you loudly today. It is time to let go of those things
in your life that are not pleasing to God. One day, you will stand before
God and you will give an account for your life. God will help you turn from
sin, He will help you overcome the enemies in your life, and He will give
you the tools to live a life pleasing and acceptable to Him that you can be
proud of when you stand before Him on that day. He has placed people in our
life to hold us accountable and to help us stand for Him each day. He will
use you in people's lives to hold them accountable and help them to stand
for Him. This is not a word for you to ignore today, but embrace. I can
trace all of the problems of my life to not being accountable to anyone and
not worrying about that day I would have to stand before God. I am thankful
for those men in my life today that I am accountable. Without them, I could
never do the things I do for the Lord. Trust me, God never expected us to
walk this journey alone, and when we try, we are like that traveler on
the road to Jericho...we become easy prey for the enemy to attack and
destroy.
I will be praying for you today. I know there are many of you out there who
are accountable to no one, and you are in a great deal of trouble today
because of it. The first thing you need to do is to go to God, repent, and
ask His forgiveness. Then you need to pray about a battle plan to eventually
overcome the problems your sin and rebellion have created. Go out and find
someone who will hold you accountable. There are usually NO overnight
solutions. You didn't get into the problems you have overnight, and you
normally aren't going to get out of them overnight. But as you faithfully
follow God's plan each day, as you are held accountable each day, God will
lead you to victory. One day we will all stand before God and give an
account for our life. Having someone in our life now to hold us accountable
will help us to stand strong, so on that day we are not ashamed to be before
God.
