No! Accountability.

In order to be good at something and get better at something a person needs some kind of accountability. I have a leader in my life that each month holds me accountable to goals I have established for myself and the church through the year. At first I did not like the idea, but I have realized how important it is to keep me focused.

The problem is most of us say "No!" to accountability. We want to live by our own rules while trying to find a quick and easy path to success. Or we want to do it our way with no one trying to help us find a better way. And when things don't go our way we wonder why, as if the world is against us, never realizing we have brought chaos upon ourselves.

Why?

"No! Accountability."

For some reason the culture has made "accountability" out to be an unnecessary and bad thing. The attitude is one of entitlement. The goal is that we believe our lives should be perfect and we should pursue things that make us happy (at the moment).  When the truth is without accountability there is chaos.

The saddest thing is this attitude has infected the church. Most Christians would not hang with Jesus long if he were here today. He was high on the accountability end of discipleship while giving high support to those he was trying to lead. Whenever the church begins to hold people accountable to living like Jesus one of two things happen:

1) They begin to have a heart change, their lives begin to change and they begin to reflect more of the image of Jesus.

Or . . .

2) They go to a church where there is no accountability and no challenge to live more like Jesus.

I just want to thank the people in my life who hold me accountable, who are honest with me and challenge me to live a little more like Jesus everyday, even when there are times I don't want to hear it or don't like it.