A little help from my friends

“Oh I get by with a little help from my friends.”  This is a lyric from an old Beatles song from the late 60s.  But it would be a really good slogan for accountability.  We need accountability.  It’s not just a concept adopted by Christians.  This is often how many of us learn, talking to others, trying to figure things out.  I worked with a young man over twenty years ago.  He was an independent inventor who came up with a general idea and then proceeded to ask questions and solicit answers from those who understood the area of the invention.  I do the same thing.  I have restored a number of old muscle cars and a few old homes.  When working on various projects, I’d ask those knowledgeable within a trade or profession how they would approach the project.  After asking a reasonable sample of people, I would begin to recognize similar approaches, and deem these to be somewhat trustworthy.  It’s a shame that I don’t do this, or do this more often, in other areas of my life.  If I had of adopted this approach when making decisions in the past, I could have avoided some bad decisions.  As Christians, we have a wealth of information that we can gather from a pool of other Christians.  Unfortunately, whether it’s because of our pride or some other reason, we often operate like the “lone ranger.”  The valuable resources at our disposal are not being utilized and we are neglecting to take advantage of mentors that could help us avoid, or get through, rough patches.  And, there’s no accountability.  Just the other night, while attending a men’s meeting at our church, I heard a man talking about men who operate independently, without being accountable to others.  This is when men (and women) most often make mistakes, frequently life changing mistakes, that they may not otherwise make it they were transparent with someone.  You would likely be less inclined to commit that sin, whatever it is, if you were transparent to others, and not living in a vacuum.  Find yourself a spiritual mentor, an accountability partner.  Become one to someone else who may be able to learn from the wisdom that you have gleaned from the challenges that you have experienced in your life.  Pray that God will reveal people to you, to whom you can be accountable, and who you can hold accountable.  Learn how to get by with a little help from your friends.

See a related post entitled Are you ruling over your sins?

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