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.
Accountability is a sincere confession or opening of one’s secrets of his Christian walk to the others in the atmosphere of mutual trust. We are ready to give account of what we do with our lives, what we understand or do not understand, in what areas are weak or in need of assistance. When we are accountable we are willing to admit whether we are growing or not. We are able to give account of what we are learning in order to receive support, encouragement or correction.
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).
Remember, what is the first sign of a change man? It is the changed attitude towards other people. Joseph’s attitude towards his brothers tells us that he had been changed. Imagine that these were the people that sold him into slavery and caused him to go through pain, misery, losses, trials and serious problems. And now brothers came to Joseph for help and he helped – freely and with no desire to pay back for all the pain. He was able to do it because he was changed and freed from unforgiveness, bitterness and resentment.
Our relationships with God are expressed through love, joy and peace.
Our relationships with others are expressed through longsuffering, kindness and goodness.
Our relationships with self are expressed through faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Only the Lord knows the true condition of our hearts, and He wants to help us look into our hearts using the relationships we are involved in. Our views, actions and lack of actions, our words – all of these things cause particular reaction which determines the level of our spiritual maturity.
When we talk about changes, we talk about the condition of one’s heart. What others do to us does not come from us; it is directed towards us to test the condition of our hearts. Our reaction to the actions of others and the outside pressure determine the content of our hearts.
«Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life» (Proverbs, 4:23).
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.
