Responsibility, Accountability

Throughout our lives, here on the planet, there are many we will find ourselves accountable to.  We start, of course, with our parents.  Over the course of time, we add teachers, coaches, employers, employees, church leaders, our spouses, government authorities, and so on. We are accountable to follow civic laws.  If we have a difficult time following the rules of the road, we might find ourselves with a ticket, or, for some, a suspended license.

Looking at various dictionaries, I discovered these definitions for the word, "accountable": an obligation to give account for one's acts; obligated to explain, justify, and take responsibility for one's actions, to answer to; and finally from the Cambridge Dictionary, 'someone who is accountable is completely responsible for what they do, and must be able to give a satisfactory reason for it'.

In today's society, we see many who refuse to be accountable to anyone for anything.  There are those who might be willing to be accountable to some and yet, not to others.  This trend is troublesome to me.  When we see people destroy businesses, cities and people without contrition, when we see, at the other end of the spectrum, children not assuming responsibility for their behavior, when every action and behavior is justified by it being caused by someone else (victim's mentality), and the fault and blame ends up in some one else's lap...it is alarming!  Why?  Because, the day is coming when everyone will discover they are going to be held accountable for their own decisions, actions, behavior, and attitudes.  The day is coming when they will face a judge who will not accept finger pointing or the claims that they are not responsible.

The day will come for every person to give an account to God, whether they want to or not.

The apostle Paul expresses to whom he is ultimately accountable to in 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, "Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. 5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God."  God is the final judge and we will appear before Him. To 'judge' is to make a decision, for or against, as in a court of law.  In verse 3, the Greek word for 'judge', means, to determine the excellence or defects of any person or thing.

Romans 14:10-12, "But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God." 12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.  Do you see the personal accountability?  We will not give an account for our parents, our bosses, or government, or anyone we feel has wronged us or been responsible for our life decisions. We give account of ourselves.  I don't know about you, but this scripture makes me want to get serious about my obedience to God.

Peter expressed what God's expectation is for us and what we should strive for in 1Peter 1: 15-17(NLT), "But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, "You must be holy (in moral sense, is pure, sinless, and upright) because I am holy." 17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as "foreigners in the land."  The phrase 'in what you do' ("work" in the KJV, means: whole way of feeling and acting, aims, and endeavors.)

John 3:16-18a (NLT), "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him. 18 "There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him."  Everyone who believes and accepts Christ as the Son of God, Who came in the flesh to be the perfect sacrifice for our sin, is saved.

Romans 5:8 and 9 (NLT), "But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's condemnation."  These verses let us know, since we are justified by His blood, He will certainly save us from God's condemnation.  We see it again in Romans 8:1 (NASB20), "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus."

We can have confidence in our relationship with Christ because as stated in Romans 8:16, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God."

Look at Revelation 20:11 and 12 with me, "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books."  These verses indicate those who are judged are lost because they refused God's salvation (no place was found for them.)  Unbelievers will be judged for their sins; believers who have been freely forgiven of sins because of Christ's work will be given degrees of reward in heaven, according to their actions in life. 

Matthew 16:27, "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works."

1 Corinthians 3:10-14 (NLT), "According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward."

Revelation 20:15 (NLT), "And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire." 

Revelation 13:8, "All who dwell on the earth will worship him (the beast), whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."  Our names are written in the Lamb's Book of life when we accept Christ as our Savior.

As we think about the day coming in which we will "give account" to God, we must make sure we are ready for that day. 

The first step, if you have not already done so, is to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God has raised Him from the dead for your salvation.  Romans 10: 9,10 and 13, "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ... 13 For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Then, we want to live our lives in such a way, that we are pleasing to God.  2 Corinthians 5:9 and (NLT), "For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things.

Hebrews 9:27, "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment."  We all have an appointment to die once, and after that comes the judgment. When we face the Lord on that day, we will face Him alone and give an account for ourselves only.

We have only one life to get it right.

I am sure our heart's desire is that we will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

I am so thankful that we have been given the Holy Spirit as our Helper.

Are you putting God first? Matthew 6:33 (NLT), "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."

Are you reading His Word? Psalm 40:8, "I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart."

Is your life changing into His image? Ephesians 4:24 (NLT), "Put on your new nature, created to be like God--truly righteous and holy."

Be ready for that day of accounting, you alone are responsible for what will take place concerning you on that day!  Enable Him to be able to say, "Well done!"