"But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken." (Matthew 12:36) ------ "So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God." (Romans 14:12)
........
I read somewhere once that human society, over at least the last 10 centuries, has continued to daily display far too little correlation between its purported "religious" beliefs and its actual behavior. REALLY food for much thought, huh???
........
The problem us humans have I can maybe summarize by telling you about a really close friend of mine who is now is Heaven. He was, among many other things, a VERY competitive type of fellow in about everything I ever saw him do. One of the things we tried to do as friends was to try to share a few one-on-one sports. He liked to play tennis and I didn't, but I gave it "the old college try", anyway. From the very beginning of our "tennis-time", I realized that it just wouldn't work at all. He'd slam the balls to me and I'd miss them about every serve he gave me. Then I'd go retrieve the balls, sloppily serve them back to him, only for him to hit them back, and I'd almost always not be able to return them to him. Finally, I just asked him, "Hey, Sonny, can you slow it down a little? We both are supposed to be having fun here, right?" Sonny responded just like I really thought he would with, "I can't hit them any softer." "Yeh, right!", I thought to myself. Sounds like the over-achiever to me, man. So, my friend and I never made it as tennis partners and, because we were such close friends, we never talked about it again. Tennis just became something that we didn't do together. No big deal. But what REALLY aggravated me about the whole tennis-thing, was that Sonny really got irritated because I was doing such a poor job of playing tennis. What I REALLY felt like telling him , and I didn't, was , "Hey, Buddy, I'm not missing the ball on purpose!"
.........
The point I want to assert in this post is that anybody who is REALLY attempting to be a Believer surely ISN'T trying to intentionally disobey Scripture, right? They just continue to misfire, to get off base, to get lazy and/or unthoughtful of all their actions. Jesus said to His disciples not very long before he was arrested, "The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." You see, I really feel that the main reason most people get into trouble is that they don't have anyone to be accountable to. They believe in Jesus as their Savior but have the very hardest time relating to their god, because He's God and they're just weak old humans! A true connection with God, in other words, seems so terribly hard to visualize, let alone accomplish. Do you see what I mean here?
In MY opinion, true accountability is maybe something like nuclear fusion; Mostly everyone above the age of 12 has surely heard of it, and knows it's a really important process, but couldn't even BEGIN to describe or explain it.
And to add to the point of this post, I posit here that maybe we can get closer to a relationship with God by forming a Christian relationship with another person, someone of the same sex, for obvious reasons. The wonderful church which I just moved away from used to successfully use the concept of "prayer partners". I used to monthly get with a fellow male Believer and discuss personal issues like temptations, prayer concerns, family and work issues, etc. It was really helpful for both of us in many ways. It was SO useful that I ended up having more than one separate partner.
........
The biggest of things which my prayer partner and I discussed was our relationships. Yes, the relationships with our wives and our children, our relationship money and time, and MOSTLY about our moral and ethical behavior concerns, our personal struggles and, of course, our relationship with God.
What I am recommending you to try to do is that you ask a close Christian friend if they might consider being a prayer-partner. All they can do is say, "Well, let me think about it.", right?" You never know, they just might be wanting the same thing and are just too shy to ask.
And why I think this is so important, guys and girls, is that on a very practical level, the peace and joy of our daily lives comes from the integrity and balance which we maintain in the key areas of our lives. And to have another human being, who you are PURPOSELY accountable to, isn't something that will just happen naturally .... it comes from a purposeful decision to elect someone who you can trust with your personal issues. And this means that this person might just be someone who will share the "really sticky issues" with you.
So, please don't stop reading this, like it's something that you think, "Hey I ain't doing something like that, ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM! Nope, not face to face, anyway!" All I can say is that, from my own personal experiences and the shared experiences of MANY other Christian Brothers and Sisters, HAVING A PRAYER PARTNER WORKS!
..........
Dear Father, thank You for showing me that the "successes" in my life have all come from You, and that there is no problem too big for You to take care of, for me and anyone else who believes in You and asks for Your help. Thank You for teaching me that my assurance in life is not from what I have done but what You have done. YOU are the One Who has gifted me with the competence and knowledge and faith to be successful in life. YOU make things happen, not me, Lord. In Jesus Wonderful Name I pray. Amen.
.........
So, JUST WHY do us guys have such an awful problem with accountability, anyway? Is it the human spirit, itself, that will always seek the lifelong struggle between "the man of flesh" and "the man of God" ?? Are we always THAT rebellious? Is our self-driven nature really THAT resistant to the notion that it does not have the resources to give the human being the balance and stability that it needs to spiritually survive? I think so very much about this, my brothers! Why do we refuse to admit to our blind spots and weaknesses?? Why is it just SO DARN HARD to admit that we can be vulnerable? Is it our weaknesses themselves, which drive us to this delusion that we don't have to be accountable?
..........
What I now begin to realize, as the answer to this massive concern, is that us human beings don't understand just what we are supposed to do with our faith. Most of us have never been given the proper structure to deal with the humanity which we have found ourselves in, being so human as we are. If we are really going to "beat" the old person in us, who we were before we were Believers, then we need to get organized to do it, don't you think? We need to have "accountability check-ups" on a regular basis, so that we stay consistent in realistically viewing what we have formed of ourselves in our new faith-practice. We need to ask the Lord to tell us, especially through His Word and our prayer life, and even our meditation time, where we are needing help and guidance. Ask Him to help you find another human to confide in at times, even if it's your pastor or an elder, or one of the helpful folks here on this web site.
I so strongly suggest that you pick a close Believer-friend and talk to them about your wanting to be a prayer partner, in your endeavor to draw closer to Jesus Christ; and you need to do it as soon as possible, OK? ASK this person you pick if they want to do this by being honest with them about your Christian concerns. And, VERY MOSTLY, start talking to God about this, OK? ASK Him to help you. Who else is there better to turn to?
........
I read somewhere once that human society, over at least the last 10 centuries, has continued to daily display far too little correlation between its purported "religious" beliefs and its actual behavior. REALLY food for much thought, huh???
........
The problem us humans have I can maybe summarize by telling you about a really close friend of mine who is now is Heaven. He was, among many other things, a VERY competitive type of fellow in about everything I ever saw him do. One of the things we tried to do as friends was to try to share a few one-on-one sports. He liked to play tennis and I didn't, but I gave it "the old college try", anyway. From the very beginning of our "tennis-time", I realized that it just wouldn't work at all. He'd slam the balls to me and I'd miss them about every serve he gave me. Then I'd go retrieve the balls, sloppily serve them back to him, only for him to hit them back, and I'd almost always not be able to return them to him. Finally, I just asked him, "Hey, Sonny, can you slow it down a little? We both are supposed to be having fun here, right?" Sonny responded just like I really thought he would with, "I can't hit them any softer." "Yeh, right!", I thought to myself. Sounds like the over-achiever to me, man. So, my friend and I never made it as tennis partners and, because we were such close friends, we never talked about it again. Tennis just became something that we didn't do together. No big deal. But what REALLY aggravated me about the whole tennis-thing, was that Sonny really got irritated because I was doing such a poor job of playing tennis. What I REALLY felt like telling him , and I didn't, was , "Hey, Buddy, I'm not missing the ball on purpose!"
.........
The point I want to assert in this post is that anybody who is REALLY attempting to be a Believer surely ISN'T trying to intentionally disobey Scripture, right? They just continue to misfire, to get off base, to get lazy and/or unthoughtful of all their actions. Jesus said to His disciples not very long before he was arrested, "The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." You see, I really feel that the main reason most people get into trouble is that they don't have anyone to be accountable to. They believe in Jesus as their Savior but have the very hardest time relating to their god, because He's God and they're just weak old humans! A true connection with God, in other words, seems so terribly hard to visualize, let alone accomplish. Do you see what I mean here?
In MY opinion, true accountability is maybe something like nuclear fusion; Mostly everyone above the age of 12 has surely heard of it, and knows it's a really important process, but couldn't even BEGIN to describe or explain it.
And to add to the point of this post, I posit here that maybe we can get closer to a relationship with God by forming a Christian relationship with another person, someone of the same sex, for obvious reasons. The wonderful church which I just moved away from used to successfully use the concept of "prayer partners". I used to monthly get with a fellow male Believer and discuss personal issues like temptations, prayer concerns, family and work issues, etc. It was really helpful for both of us in many ways. It was SO useful that I ended up having more than one separate partner.
........
The biggest of things which my prayer partner and I discussed was our relationships. Yes, the relationships with our wives and our children, our relationship money and time, and MOSTLY about our moral and ethical behavior concerns, our personal struggles and, of course, our relationship with God.
What I am recommending you to try to do is that you ask a close Christian friend if they might consider being a prayer-partner. All they can do is say, "Well, let me think about it.", right?" You never know, they just might be wanting the same thing and are just too shy to ask.
And why I think this is so important, guys and girls, is that on a very practical level, the peace and joy of our daily lives comes from the integrity and balance which we maintain in the key areas of our lives. And to have another human being, who you are PURPOSELY accountable to, isn't something that will just happen naturally .... it comes from a purposeful decision to elect someone who you can trust with your personal issues. And this means that this person might just be someone who will share the "really sticky issues" with you.
So, please don't stop reading this, like it's something that you think, "Hey I ain't doing something like that, ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM! Nope, not face to face, anyway!" All I can say is that, from my own personal experiences and the shared experiences of MANY other Christian Brothers and Sisters, HAVING A PRAYER PARTNER WORKS!
..........
Dear Father, thank You for showing me that the "successes" in my life have all come from You, and that there is no problem too big for You to take care of, for me and anyone else who believes in You and asks for Your help. Thank You for teaching me that my assurance in life is not from what I have done but what You have done. YOU are the One Who has gifted me with the competence and knowledge and faith to be successful in life. YOU make things happen, not me, Lord. In Jesus Wonderful Name I pray. Amen.
.........
So, JUST WHY do us guys have such an awful problem with accountability, anyway? Is it the human spirit, itself, that will always seek the lifelong struggle between "the man of flesh" and "the man of God" ?? Are we always THAT rebellious? Is our self-driven nature really THAT resistant to the notion that it does not have the resources to give the human being the balance and stability that it needs to spiritually survive? I think so very much about this, my brothers! Why do we refuse to admit to our blind spots and weaknesses?? Why is it just SO DARN HARD to admit that we can be vulnerable? Is it our weaknesses themselves, which drive us to this delusion that we don't have to be accountable?
..........
What I now begin to realize, as the answer to this massive concern, is that us human beings don't understand just what we are supposed to do with our faith. Most of us have never been given the proper structure to deal with the humanity which we have found ourselves in, being so human as we are. If we are really going to "beat" the old person in us, who we were before we were Believers, then we need to get organized to do it, don't you think? We need to have "accountability check-ups" on a regular basis, so that we stay consistent in realistically viewing what we have formed of ourselves in our new faith-practice. We need to ask the Lord to tell us, especially through His Word and our prayer life, and even our meditation time, where we are needing help and guidance. Ask Him to help you find another human to confide in at times, even if it's your pastor or an elder, or one of the helpful folks here on this web site.
I so strongly suggest that you pick a close Believer-friend and talk to them about your wanting to be a prayer partner, in your endeavor to draw closer to Jesus Christ; and you need to do it as soon as possible, OK? ASK this person you pick if they want to do this by being honest with them about your Christian concerns. And, VERY MOSTLY, start talking to God about this, OK? ASK Him to help you. Who else is there better to turn to?
