Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
3/11/2022
Accountability is Not just about what I can't do but how I can be better.
I talked to a dear friend of mine a few days ago about accountability. He said the friends at his table are a little more mature and don’t struggle with pornography, drugs, or alcohol, we just want to be involved in giving back to younger men. I told them that that was a noble gesture, but that isn’t accountability unless one is holding them accountable to something specific along those lines.
He presumed that because of their spiritual maturity that they didn’t struggle so much with sin issues. I told him that everyone struggles with sin. And if we don’t know that according to God‘s word then we’re fooling ourselves and are setting ourselves up for a fall. 1 John 1: 8 He asked me if I can send him a list of typical questions that one might ask another person to hold them accountable? I told him that I would, but the fact is the accountable questions that are the most piercing are the ones that he will identify as his areas of weakness. It might be anger, impatience, a judgemental attitude, a lack of time in the Word, or with prayer.
Accountability requires humility before God and before man. Over the years I have seen men stumble because they feel they must run the course alone. They keep getting stifled by their own blind spots and walk-in confusion because they are not accountable to a brother who helps him see and walk through his blind spots. We all have them but have become so used to them we don’t see half of them.
What is relationship accountability? Being accountable in a relationship means acknowledging the effect your behaviors have on your families, friends, and those who know you and owning how you contribute to the negative cycle. That ownership often requires a mentor or partner who you trust to bring in a Godly perspective of Love, Grace, and Understanding.
What does it mean to be accountable spiritually? At the heart, accountability is one Christian submitting to the Christ-centered admonition of another Christian in one or more areas of life. Hand in hand with accountability is an attitude of grace and forgiveness, and the taking on of one another's burdens
(Romans 12:16, Colossians 3:13, Galatians 6:2).
"Accountability Feels Like An Attack When You're Not Ready To Acknowledge How YOUR Behavior Harms Others." CS Lewis
Accountability is a process of one brother giving permission to another brother to call him out, to hold his feet to the fire on both moral, character, and spiritual issues.
Historically, accountability has majored in helping people restrain their bad behavior. But as new creatures in Christ, we all need to be accountable to people who regularly remind us that we were born to make history.
Accountability is awesome if it "accounts for your ability and not account for just your disability".
It can’t simply consist of people who tell me when I am doing something wrong. Someone said: “I don’t need someone to make sure I don’t smoke, I need somebody to make sure I am on fire for Christ!” Kris Vallotton said: “I understand more clearly now than ever that with great authority comes much responsibility. The more influence you have in the world, the more wisdom you’ll need to navigate life redemptively so that the purposes of God are fulfilled in your time.
Favor amplifies the influence on our lives but favor alone doesn’t help us to make good decisions. We have to seek God for His perspectives and connect with wise people for their insights and counsel. It’s in authentic, life-on-life accountability to wise counselors that there is victory!
We must realize that there is a difference between covering and accountability! If you’re a part of a church or Christian movement, you may have a spiritual covering, however, true accountability is only present in our lives when we have a personal relationship with people who can and do speak into our hearts, our circumstances, and our relationships. I love the way that Hebrews 13:17 puts this: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”
Everyone needs these deep covenant connections—not primarily because they keep us from failing, but because they inspire us to reach for the high call of God that rests on each of our lives".
Lord my prayer is you help me find those men to be that for me, so I can be more like you. Help me past my pride, past my stubbornness, and past by false bravado, and ask some men to help me be a better son of God.
Lauren Daigle Dry bones come alive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XAeyFagceQ
