Accountability is not a popular topic these days. We love our freedom and our independence to decide for ourselves without the restriction of someone “looking over our shoulder.” We can find it intrusive and cast it off as, “my business is my business.” The problem with that line of thinking is it’s truly un-biblical.   Could you imagine Jesus saying, “Listen to my teaching and watch me heal the sick, but realize that my personal life is none of your business?” Or, how about if Paul the Apostle shared with the church in Corinth, “I am going to call out your sin, but you dare not call out mine?” We simply do not live as unto ourselves.

Accountability is when you or I walk in a certain conviction, but realize we need help from others. We are encouraged to go to our overseer, leader or friend and humbly describe to them what it is we need accountability in. Here are four steps to help make accountability a lifestyle.

1. We approach someone and make an inquiry to see if they are up to the task of asking us a few difficult questions. You’ll need to be explicit in what it is you desire to be held accountable in.

2. Then give the person(s) some actual questions they can ask and how often you desire them to be asked.  How severe the issue you are dealing with determines how often you meet and are being held accountable.

3. Further, ask them to call you randomly, outside actual face-to-face meetings (text and email are good too, but calls are best).  This provides an element of surprise.

4. As well, be sure to let them know to change it up.  In other words, give them permission and encouragement to ask you about other areas of your life.

We will be held accountable to God (Romans 14:12), but opening up our lives and having help while still on earth can cause tremendous growth in our lives. Who are you accountable to?

Sometimes I wish Jesus had picked an easier second commandment to follow like not worshipping idols. That would be really easy to do these days. I think it would provoke me to no end to bow down to a statue and thus, I would not suffer in my flesh or my emotions in obedience. He didn’t give us that option, however.

Love your neighbor, let’s see…the one that screams, yells and swears at his kids so loud that we can hear him in our house? Can’t wait until those kids grow up.

The one that burns copper wire in his burning barrel at night while my wife and I choke on the fumes in our bedroom? Geez, get a real job.

The one that can’t pick up a stick when mowing or when he does throws it in my yard? That lazy one, Lord?

Or, how about the one that refused to allow me to pray for him when he lost his job because he wanted to “collect unemployment” for a few months. Pride-filled arrogance.

Then there was the neighbor who was a pastor, but refused to talk to me because of what he believed to be our beliefs on the Holy Spirit. Boy, won’t he be miserable in heaven?

What about those neighbors’ who are Muslim, do I have to love them?

What about that neighbor who deals drugs, him?

How about the two young women who live together and I think they’re, well…you know. Do I have to talk to them?

And what about that neighbor who walks  by all the trash in his yard everyday, that one too?

Yes, all of these without exception. Love them like you love yourself. That means help them, serve them, build a relationship with them, bake them treats and sow the truth of the gospel, the good news, into their lives. It isn’t enough to be just a “good neighbor.” We represent another kingdom and we are responsible to share that kingdom with them in love. Ask the Holy Spirit for favor and ways to love unique to your neighbor’s need. You’ll not regret it.

Thankfulness is a decision. On a recent trip outside of the country, I was talking to a lady who was undergoing chemotherapy. She told me how thankful she was for her health and her life. Her condition and her smile seemed incongruous, but thankfulness oozed from her spirit. Thankfulness made a difference in light of what she was suffering. I stopped to think about how a thankful spirit is so different from that of a critical one. In the Scriptures we are encouraged to give thanks at all times and I suppose she was fulfilling that verse literally, but beyond that she seemed genuinely happy and at peace.

When we lose our thankfulness, we lose the ability to see the good. We remove our eyes from what God is doing and get our eyes focused upon what we feel God is not doing. We then begin to entertain a critical spirit. This Thanksgiving as you sit around the dining room table, take the time to allow each family member to share in brief what they are thankful for or what they see God doing in their lives. It will set the mood for a more positive meal time together.

Another idea might be to celebrate communion together as a family and together rejoice in what Christ has sacrificed for us.  Perhaps you might want to even read the following verses together before you pray and give thanks to God for all of His blessings:

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise, give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Ps. 100: 3-5)

I read a true story about a company vice president who had a very close personal assistant. This personal assistant was trusted implicitly, exposed to every level of information that his boss, the vice president was exposed to. Their relationship was tight, full of trust and full of integrity. This personal assistant would do anything for his very kind and generous boss. They seemed inseparable. The VP repeatedly told his assistant he was being groomed for greater and one day he would see the reality.  However, the day came when the president of the company experienced a major difference with his VP. It took some time, but eventually the president began to tell lies about his VP to the board of directors. He was slowly and methodically working toward the firing of the VP, even though every accusation was false. The only one who could stand up for the integrity of the VP was his personal assistant.

That dreaded day arrived when the board of directors would call upon the personal assistant to testify and the very real rumor was that if the VP was fired, the only way the assistant could maintain a position with the company, and not lose his employment, was to side with the president. The personal assistant didn’t realize that on the day he would be called into the boardroom, both the president and his boss, the VP, would be present as well. In his heart, the assistant was prepared to stand up for and defend his boss, but out of his head and through his lips came only words that aligned themselves with the president. Call it what you will, but at the very least it was self-preservation. His boss slowly turned his gaze toward his long time friend and looked deep into his eyes. They both seemed to drop their heads in disbelief at the same time. Pain struck the assistant in his gut and chills ran down his spine, his face became flush red, his heart pounded with disbelief and his palms were sweaty and stuck to the table where he was seated.

Immediately he knew he failed his long time friend, his family and himself. He still had a job, but he lost all incentive with the company and one day, not long after this very meeting, he just walked away, returning to his prior profession as a commercial fisherman.

What was the name of the personal assistant? How can you and I identify with him?  (See Matthew 26:69-75)