Accountability
A little post about accountability.
Matthew and I are trying to eat better. So, I have been cut off from my “go to” drink of choice, McDonald’s sweet tea. (Do you know that one large sweet tea has the sugar equivalent of 5 Reese’s cups in it?!) It was the first thing to get nixed from our diet.
So, last Tuesday, I was on my way to work, and I swear to you, I don’t know how, I ended up in the McDonald’s drive thru. It was like my van had a mind of its own! But there I was, “Sweet tea, light ice please”. “$1.06 at the first window” chirped the box. I quickly got out of the line, but not without my tea. I was thinking no one saw me and I could be bad just this once. (Yeah, fat chance!) When I walked in the door that evening, my husband was waiting for me. Our conversation went like this:
“So, I hear you visited McDonald’s today.”
“WHAT? How did you know?”
“Well” he says, “When I picked up the kids at your mom’s, she said that Amanda told her that you were in the McDonald’s drive thru at 1:30 today”
“Dang!” I say, “I’m 35 and she’s still tattling on me! (and so fast too!)”
Matthew is a great accountability partner. He shows me the things I should be doing and encourages me to make better choices. We are best friends, so I am comfortable (most the time) hearing my flaws from him. I often take him for granted, getting frustrated when he points out something that needs improving, not appreciating the fact that he is just trying to help.
The Bible tells us “The wounds from a friend can be trusted. Proverbs 27:6”. Meaning, if your friends are telling you about something you need to improve, you should be trusting them, they aren’t going to hurt you un-necessarily.
Today I just have a few questions:
- Are you a good accountability partner for your friends? Would you tell your friend about their sin, even if it might hurt their feelings?
- Do you have an accountability partner that is going to tell you when you mess up? Is there someone that you don’t mind hearing the hard truths from?
- When confronted by your friend do you accept their constructive criticism without becoming angry? Do you need to examine the things they are trying to tell you, you need help with?
