I can't say I couldn't believe it when I heard, but only because over time I have come to understand the human condition more and more. Still it caught me off guard. Still it sobers me. Still it reminds me of my need for accountability in my relationship with God and others. Still... a senior pastor of a good friend...of a good church? Still...someone I've met? Still...my friends Dad? Still...a teacher and author of how to start and build healthy relationships?
Now... a broken marraige. Now... a broken church... Now...wounded children...shame...guilt...confusion...
Every time I want to ask questions like "how could you?" "Didn't you think about how this would affect your family? your church? your life?" "how could you ignore what you taught and learned and warned against?" but I can't really. I can't because I understand that I am capable of this and more. Beth Moore said it this way, "everyone is capable of doing the thing they swore they would never do," and once again I've seen it proved.
Still we do have to ask, how did this happen? How can we avoid it? It will surely be fatal if we believe it to be inevitable. As I was talking with my friend who was sent on the mission field by this now broken former senior pastor, one big thing came up - accountability - this leader didn't have it. No one was asking the hard questions about life, daily struggles, temptations, and how we are holding up to the general attacks of sin that threaten to destroy us.
This friend and I have been accountability partners since within the first week of my being in Japan, and I value that greatly - especially now. Sure, there are times when its embarrassing, when I have to admit the depravity of my own mind and where I have indulged sin. But it keeps the sin from growing, from blinding our hearts, from calloused scars around our consciences that soon leave us without defense from everything that would seek to destroy us and our life's purpose. It keeps me close to God and growing stronger in who Jesus is in me.
Accountability alone won't protect us, it's not a perfect shield defending us from every poison dart. But it does present the antidote that keeps the poison from spreading to its full intent. So who is holding you accountable? And are you willing to ask your friends the hard, uncomfortable questions? Don't believe the lies, because the people you think would never fall need it the most.
What are your thoughts?
