Daily Devotional for Saturday March 30, 2002

The Importance of Being Accountable

(Romans 14:12)

There is little argument that our lives are accountable to God. We will one day have to answer to God for everything we do and say. 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 or 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 that 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 lives who we are accountable to. Someone that we have to answer to. Someone who will hold us accountable as we live our lives each day. My friend, this is the absolute 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 humbling ourselves and being 100% honest before those we are going to be accountable to for it to work. Again, we are going to stand before God one day 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 have different areas of weakness, and we should start out focusing on those critical areas of our lives. We need to share our innermost thoughts and secrets. We need to share how we fall into temptation. I often speak of having a battle plan in order 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 stand before 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 to, 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 and 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 stand strong, so on that day we are not ashamed to stand before God.