Accountability: April 4, 2013

Today's Word for Thursday April 4, 2013

ACCOUNTABILITY

DEFINITION:

Subject to the obligation to report or justify something; responsible; answerable; capable of being explained.

SCRIPTURE:

Each of us will give an account of himself to God. Romans 14:12.

Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing evil in his eyes?" You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. Thus says the Lord: Behold I will raise up adversity against you from your own house, for you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel. II Samuel 12: 9, 11, 12. 

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Today more than any time in history, we believe people do all they can to avoid responsibility. Adam ate the forbidden fruit and he blamed his wife, Eve, for giving him the fruit instead of being accountable for his sin. David tried to get away with the sin of killing Uriah by doing it in an indirect way. David was challenged by Nathan to be accountable to God for taking Bathsheba and causing her husband, Uriah, to be killed in battle.

These scriptures give us just two examples as to how easy and natural it is to want to avoid taking the responsibility for our own actions by finding a way to place the blame on someone else. Unfortunately, it often works and then an innocent person gets the blame. However there is someone we cannot fool and who does hold us accountable. Hebrews 5:7 tells us, "nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account. (Romans 14:12)

Both of us remember back to when we were in school having conversations with our peers about what we called "fessing up" to a situation. "Fessing up" is humbling. No one likes to admit that they were wrong, especially if there are consequences, which is usually the case. Human nature seems to always drive one to accept accountability when the issue is favorable to us and puts us in a positive light. But, since we all are of a sinful nature, when a situation puts us in a negative light and may have consequences for us, we want to pass the blame.

It begins early in a child's life. We can remember when we could just look into the eyes of one of our children and see guilt. When that child knew that he or she had been caught in an act of wrongdoing the child would quickly do all he or she could do to make someone else accountable for what he or she had done. How often when children are caught having a fight have we heard: "but he [or she] started it”. Then the other one responds by saying: "did not, you did"

God wants us to be accountable for our actions. As one gets older you realize that accepting accountability is what demonstrates that you are a person of integrity. Once a person loses their integrity in the eyes of others it is very hard to gain it back. Integrity equips you to be a vessel that God can use. Being accountable allows God to bless you in everyday situations.

LEARNING: 

Our memory verse for this week is found in Ephesians 1:2.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

PRAYER:

Dear God, just as You faced Adam in the garden and David, through Nathan, many years ago to be accountable for their sin, we ask You today to keep us accountable to what You have taught us from Your Word.  May we take total responsibility for all of the issues that involve us, both positive and negative and strive to do what is right in Your sight, that we may face.