The Church of Jesus Christ is the place of accountability and not where everyone does what comes to his mind. The New Testament contains many of God’s commandments that have the phrase “one another” in them. It tells us that we do not only walk before God, but also walk before one another. For example, it says in several verses that we should love one another.
Accountability makes us strong and unites us to the other believers; it also kills the “I am a lone island” thinking. This type of thinking has caused many problems that the Body of Christ still suffers from.
God does not want you to be an island that is separated and independent of the other brothers and sisters in Christ. We are not only responsible to being accountable ourselves; we also need to call others to accountability and help them with it.
Now we have to be accountable before the others to be healthy as believers. We cannot live like lone islands and be independent of other brothers and sisters in Christ. We are called to live not just before God, but before other believers as well.
«For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known». (1st Corinthians 13:9-12).
What happens when we build relationships with other people? These relationships uncover in us the faults we have not seen before. In every one of us there is a lot of dross that needs to be cleansed out so that we could conform to the image of Jesus Christ.
Many people declare themselves to be perfect since they are a new creature and the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Dear friends, it is good to have faith. But it is not enough to believe these things in our hearts and to confess them with our mouths. If we neglect the instruments of transformation that God ordained to change us, then our actual lives will be far from our confessions.
Our God is the God of relationships, and He uses relationships to change us. Every relationship influences those that are involved. The divine goal for every relationship is for us to be changed through them, be perfected and grow into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
My life preaches even when I don’t know about it. This is why it is so important to be changed so that our lives reflect what we say and comply with it. Our lives must be our loudest sermon and not our words. It is the will of God for us.
God changes us not only through trials and hardships, but also through His grace and mercy.
«When I was young my imagination did not know any boundaries. And I wanted to change the whole world. In time I realized that I wouldn’t be able to change the world, so I tried to change my country. When I realized that I wouldn’t be able to change the country, I concentrated on changing my city. But I couldn’t change my city either. So, when I had grown older, I tried to change my family. Now when I am an old man waiting to cross over to the other side I have understood that the only one I could change was me. Suddenly I realized that if I had worked on changing myself I would have been able to really affect my family and then my family and I could have affected the city. Through the changes in the city we could have changed the country and the world”.
1. God changes us through accountability.
In order to change us, God often subordinates us to a person we have to give an account to. A person without responsibility is blind to see his own level of arrogance, rebellion and selfishness he has to get over. Accountability is a kind of protection from misbelief and self-deception for us.
Transformed person serves other people because he loves them, not in order to benefit from them. It makes me sad when I meet people who minister because it gives them a certain benefits. It´s awfully hard to change a person who has such motives. Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus was one of this kind. For three and a half years he had stayed with Jesus, but in no way it changed him, because he had sinister motives. Judas Iscariot was greedy, money loving man. Jesus put Judas in charge with financial part of His ministry, so he had access to money and offerings. First Judas began to steal money from their pay-box, later also betrayed his Master.
