So yesterday I wrote about our identity and used that to introduce the topic of decision making. Well today I'm not going to talk about decision making, but something just as important that deals with it.
Accountability.
I got a friend of mine, and one day I was sitting next to him and saw his calender. And I noticed on his calender that at least twice a week, at the same time, he has a time to talk to his friend to keep each other accountable. Growing up in the church, going to a Christian university I heard a lot about accountability, and I think that it's needed. And I also think it ties directly with what we're focusing on with decision making. Why? Well it's this.
With the idea of identity we talked about who we are and who Jesus is. If we say that we're Christian's and we identify as that, then I think we should act like it. Throughout my Bible I have different verses highlighted and underlined with the note, "Act like you're saved." One of these attributes of acting like you're saved is being honest. You can't lie to God, why lie to yourself or anyone else? So if you identify as a Christian you need to work on truthfulness.
And this leads to accountability. You find someone that you can trust, someone that knows you well and that you know well. You meet once, twice, or even every day throughout the week, and you keep each other accountable. The only way for this to work though is that you get out of it what you put in. Accountability is used to create progress in your life. A ways back I did a post on struggling with things, and this is why we need accountability. Your partner has to be someone you trust, and you know they will not break your trust (inside of certain parameters). You go to them and say, "These are the things I struggle with, that have kept me, and still keep me, from a closer relationship with God." They then tell you the same. You then meet however many times you have decided to and when you do you tell each other how your week went, how you handled your temptations, struggles, and whatever else.
Through this your partner will begin to (hopefully) see patterns in your life, triggers that lead to you stumbling. They are able to point this out to you, and so you can keep those thoughts in mind and avoid the situations that lead you to stumble and fall. Now honesty here plays a big role because without honesty and trust this will not work. At all. Throughout the week keep in contact with your partner, checking up on them, seeing how they're doing, letting them know you're praying for them giving them tips on how to deal with different things. It's amazing how someone that you partner with can know exactly what you're going through because they dealt with the same thing.
There's a lot more that I could talk about with accountability, pulling out scripture and stories, but I think this is a good stopping point. I encourage you to find a friend, a peer, and partner up with them to keep each other accountable. If you do that, and are serious about it, I'm betting that your relationship with God will grow to new heights you never imagined.
No comments:
Post a Comment