What Does It Mean To Be Accountable?
What does it mean to be accountable? Let’s take a moment this Good Friday to remember how Jesus was accountable to God our Almighty Father to carry on in completing His mission on earth. As captured in Luke 22:42, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
To help explain accountability, we see in this verse from Luke that Jesus is accountable to God by surrendering to His will. Jesus took ownership of the situation to finish His work on earth, suffer and die on the cross for ALL the sins of mankind. He died for all the sins, from the day Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, until the end of time.
Our God is a loving, merciful, forgiving God who wants each of us to have a close, one-on-one relationship with Him. But before He could have the personal relationships with us, He had to break down the barrier between Himself and His people. He also had to get mankind past the earlier reckoning scenarios for their sinfulness, which kept them separated from Him. God wants mankind to obey Him because we love Him and want to please Him. Not because we fear His wrath, but fear God out of reverence for Him as our loving provider and protector.
This is the beauty of Easter as captured in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Free to Choose
God gives us free will. We can choose to love and serve Him or not. I believe most of us try our best to serve Him by doing what is right most of the time. But as the Bible says in Romans 14:12 states; “So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God”. Whether we like it or not, we are all accountable to God for our actions. But while we’re still on this side of heaven, I’d like to explore what role accountability plays in our daily lives.
Holding Myself Accountable
As a husband, father, and grandfather, I know I’m accountable to my wife, and my family to love them and take care of them. With God’s help, I am very blessed with being able to do so. As a citizen, I’m accountable to my fellow Americans to be a good neighbor to all who live in/around my community. When employed, I am accountable to the company, my boss and co-workers, and my clients for carrying out my responsibilities as efficiently and professionally as possible.
Taking responsibility for my actions, both good and bad, sometimes is tough. If something I did went well, the prideful part of me says that I would prefer to take all the credit. However, I know in my heart the credit should be given to God and others who helped me achieve the objective or complete the task.
And, in all honesty, just the opposite is true when I have acted badly. My first response of “self-protection” is to rationalize why I did it or I might try to find something or someone else to blame for the misdeed. To my chagrin, I’ve even tried that faulty reasoning with God. Eventually, I own up to it being “all me” and ask for forgiveness. My loving wife and daughters have forgiven me more times than I care to count. I’m very blessed.
Accountability is Not Age-Dependent
But if you think this accountability issue is tough for we adults, just think how hard is it for children. We assume that children are mostly immature and cannot apply sound reasoning to hold themselves accountable for their actions. This level of reasoning is strictly reserved for adults, right? Not necessarily. Here’s why.
A few years ago, my 10-year old grandson was playing in my downstairs “Man Cave” with his older brother, and two of his cousins. Not sure what the game was, but when I heard the “crash”, I assumed they were all involved in throwing something around the room. I was soon to learn that the sound was that of one of my ceramic Bald Eagle sculptures hitting the floor.
As I headed down the stairs to investigate, I was met with a trio of children trying to get “out of harms way”, from the expected fallout from the incident. But before I could enter the Man Cave, my young grandson met me at the door with the broken pieces of the Bald Eagle figurine in his hand.
As he looked up at me with a catch in his throat, his first words were, “I’m sorry Papaw”. As I stood there quietly listening, he went on to explain how they were all four rough housing, but he was the one who threw the pillow that knocked the Eagle piece off the shelf.
He and I are both avid American Bald Eagle nuts, so he knew how much I valued this sculpture. It brought tears to my eyes to hear this little man take full responsibility for the act and did not mention anyone else by name being involved in the accident. I said, “Thank you for your honesty, now let’s see if we can fix it.” And with a little patience, “crazy glue”, and paint, it looked almost good as new. I love that boy. As for me, that is one fine example of accountability that I will always cherish and learn from as well for the rest of my life.
Taking Ownership
When something goes wrong in your life, do you take ownership or do you blame someone else? In other words, do you ever hold yourself accountable for the situation whether it was entirely your fault or not? I tend more to believe that we humans want to find fault and assess blame for the event, especially if the action was preventable.
Unfortunately, on the fault side of the equation, most people do not want to hold themselves accountable for anything “bad” that happens, but will almost always want to take the full credit for anything “good” that happens in yours or my life. Perhaps that is the natural method for surviving in this sin-focused, secular world we all live in, that is until we “see the light” and make God our central focus in life.
Re-thinking Our Priorities in Life
Even during those times when we fail God, He didn’t make us to be “quitters”. We can quickly learn from our mistakes, ask for forgiveness, turn our lives around, and transform our lives to being even better. I believe many of us are in the midst of transforming our natural and spiritual lives right now during this worldwide crisis.
God made us to be very resilient, especially during times of struggle and fear. He made us to keep plodding along, taking two steps forward, even when we get knocked back a step sometimes. We don’t give up, we don’t give in, we don’t quit. Stealing from the U.S. Marine Corps motto; “We improvise, adapt and overcome” to achieve the objective and ultimate victory – God’s Victory!!
So what should be most important in your life right now? The truth of the matter is that God should be the MOST important aspect of your life. I believe most people would share my opinion if we’d just slow down long enough to seriously consider this fact. The recent stay-at-home orders are giving us that opportunity to re-think what’s important. For me, I’m focused on serving God to the best of my ability every day. Sometimes it’s tough, but I hold myself accountable for obeying His commandments, loving and serving others, and pleasing God.
Pleasing God out of love for Him should be top priority in life. Sadly, with church worship attendance decreasing and church closings increasing substantially every year, these facts reflect the emphasis American families have placed on God in their lives. It seems God is not just in the “back seat”, He’s in the “way back”, if at all.
What Happened to American Family Values?
Lack of accountability in our lives has also been negatively impacting our moral values. What has happened to America’s family values? Have pride and greed replaced humility, gratitude and fairness? For many, it is a daily struggle to be satisfied with what we have when we’re bombarded with advertisements saying we “must have this new car, or home, or appliance, etc.” to make us feel better. Sometimes, we may get so caught up in the quest for obtaining that new item that we push accountability aside. Some of us may wind up doing whatever it takes to be successful by the world’s definition and not adhere to what God says is important. God has a different definition of being successful.
Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” The activities and focus of modern culture appears to have been overly weighted to serving “money” and not serving God.
Learning from God’s Jolt
During this worldwide COVID-19 crisis, I too am learning to hold myself accountable to God for my actions. He is my fortress and the rock of refuge that I cling to in this raging sea of turmoil, the immoveable foundation that is always there for me, No Matter What.
And on this Good Friday, we have a perfect opportunity show God how grateful we are for His Son. Please take a moment to get on your knees to thank Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior for paying the ultimate price and sacrificing His life for us all. For being ultimately accountable to God, our Almighty Father on behalf of all mankind for our sinful actions. Keeping this focus should help us stay on God’s righteous path for our lives.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you, and may He turn His face toward you and give you peace during this Easter season and throughout the year.
Live, Learn and Grow in Jesus.
Blessings,
Jerry
