ACCOUNTABILITY

ACCOUNTABILITY

Tuesday, January 05, 2016

Dear fellow travelers,

I’m asked to provide the list below. Here it is again.

Ed. B

Proverbs [GW] 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens the wits of another.

Hebrews 10:21-25 We have a superior priest in charge of God's house. We have been sprinkled with his blood to free us from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with clean water. So we must continue to come to him with a sincere heart and strong faith. We must continue to hold firmly to our declaration of faith. The one who made the promise is faithful. We must also consider how to encourage each other to show love and to do good things. We should not stop gathering together with other believers, as some of you are doing. Instead, we must continue to encourage each other even more as we see the day of the Lord coming.

  One evening a young newlywed, a first time visitor to our Tuesday morning Overcomers group, wanted to let us know she couldn’t participate but would be there next week. Hardly knowing us or others in the group, why would she do such a thing? What is her reason for being voluntarily accountable to others?

  Because she understands the importance of, the benefits from, making one’s self responsible before and to others.

  This stirred Evangelical Methodist Church memory to search history of John Wesley’s Holy Club (Mocking name from fellow collegians at 1729 Oxford. http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/1983/issue2/216.html )

  As part of their agreed upon accountability to one another, there were 22 questions the clubs asked themselves every day over 285 years ago. Here’s the list as given to me by EMC Pastor Donald McKnight over 45 years ago. I still keep it handy and personally review.

·         Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?

·         Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?

·         Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?

·         Can I be trusted?

·         Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?

·         Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?

·         Did the Bible live in me today?

·         Do I give God’s Word time to speak to me every day?

·         Am I praying and enjoying it?

·         When did I last speak to someone about my faith?

·         Do I pray about the money I spend?

·         Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?

·         Do I disobey God in anything?

·         Do I insist on doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?

·         Am I defeated in any part of my life?

·         Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?

·         How do I invest my spare time?

·         Am I proud?

·         Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisee that despised the publican? Luke 18:11-13

·         Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, or hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?

·         Do I grumble or complain constantly?

·         Is Christ real to me?

  Denomination aside, what answerability club do we belong to this 2016?  EBB4