Monday Morning insight posted an article today entitled Drastic Measures to Avoid Moral Failure. It links to posts from Perry Noble, Craig Groeschel and Shaun King which highlight reasons pastors have moral failures and/or safeguards they’ve put into place to avoid having one themselves.
The idea of accountability has been a main thread in my brain for a few weeks now. The question I’ve been asking myself is what makes accountability truly effective?
I’ve been in a fair number of accountability relationships ranging from highly ineffective to moderately effective.
But none I would call highly effective.
A lot of accountability relationships involve trustworthy people regularly asking the tough questions. Are you looking at porn? How is your relationship with God? Are you spending daily time in the Word? In worship? In prayer? Are you avoiding situations that you know will tempt you?
These safeguards involve transparency with other people and setting very specific boundaries.
All those are great things and should happen; however, they can and will fail if one condition is met: you no longer value your relationship with Jesus Christ above everything else in the world.
When that happens, deception will follow. People can ask the tough questions all day long, but if being in a right relation with Jesus is not mission critical to you, lying becomes easy. Finding ways around Internet filters is trivial. Gazing lustfully at another woman is as easy as breathing.
All that to say accountability fails when our relationship with Jesus fails.
True accountability has to be between you and Jesus. No one else will be able to be as strong and as supportive as you need them to be.
Dear Jesus,
I pray that I will always be transparent before you. That you will be my first love and that nothing will ever deceive me into thinking I need it more than you.
