Friends Hold Us Accountable

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

—Galatians 6:1

Every one of us can think of somebody we know who was once a strong believer and who fell into some kind of sin. Perhaps they fell into sexual immorality or maybe they fell into unorthodox beliefs. Regardless of specifics, they fell away from the faith.

Many times the reason people wander away from the faith is they have no one to whom they are accountable.

I think that was the tragedy of Solomon. Think about it, when Solomon was a teenager, he gave his life completely to God. He was wholly devoted to the Lord. He wanted to please God with his whole heart. But over a period of years, his wealth, power, and sensual pleasure caused his heart to grow cold toward God. And the Bible says in 1 Kings 11:4: “For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away from to other gods and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord, his God.” You see the problem was, since Solomon was up on the pedestal, on the throne, no one had the courage to tell Solomon the truth about himself. He had no one to hold him accountable.

Friendships offer us accountability when we are prone to wander.

Do you have somebody who holds you accountable? You know in every church I’ve served in, including this church, I’ve had a leadership council. And in this church, there is a group of about fourteen leaders in this church with whom I meet once a month. And they are free to ask me any question they want to ask. They are able to challenge me on anything they want to challenge. They can ask me any personal question they want to ask to hold me accountable as the pastor of this church.

Do you have somebody like that or a group of people like that in your life? People who aren’t afraid to tell you the truth about yourself? People who will hold you accountable when you are tempted to wander from the faith? That’s one of the values of friendships.

***

Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Living with Loneliness,” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2008

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.