Thought for the Week

I hope you have lots of friends. But I hope you have at least one that is extra special. This one I would like to see you name and own as an “accountability partner”. This one is so special you can tell him/her anything. You know they will keep your confidence. More than that, they will keep you accountable. You can ask for their help and prayers. You can confess your weaknesses and your temptations. You will ask them to pray. More than that, they will challenge you to live in a way that is right and is pleasing to God. They will know your weaknesses and temptations and will ask you from time to time, if you are resisting the tempter and the temptations he offers. They will hold you up in prayer, especially when they know you are going through a ‘tough time’ spiritually. You will be able to call or visit each other in stressful times and know they will not put off praying. Praying will be as important to them as it is to you. They will acknowledge the desperate need for God to be there to keep you on ‘the straight and narrow path.’ If a time comes when you fall, they will feel your pain as intently as you feel it. Your friend will rejoice with you when you rejoice and they will weep with you when you weep. You may not find this friend all ready to do and be what you need. It may take cultivation. Hopefully, this will not be a one-way-street. You will be the same sort of friend to them they are to you. You will be able to ask each other for specific prayer requests sharing what is on your heart and mind. I am extremely fortunate: My wife is my accountability partner. She knows my weaknesses and has never ‘held them over my head’ or used them for her own advantage. She is a marvelous prayer-warrior and keeps confidence extremely well. I know she is not only my accountability partner, she is for others as well. She is good at it because she is such a gentle-spirited-person. That is extremely important. We have each gone through some ‘tough times’. We have celebrated together when victories have been won. There have also been some tearful times. We live in difficult times and days. The more we are aware of the pain others are suffering, the more we hurt with and for them. Because we share children, we share the hurts they are going through as well. God has blessed us and has been with us. Scripture has shown us the splendid companionship of David, the future king of Israel and Jonathan, the crown prince and heir apparent to that kingdom. It is amazing to me Jonathan and David understood this yet there was no jealousy on Jonathan’s part. In fact, he supported his friend David to the utmost. Their life-pact extended to the future when their roles would be reversed and Jonathan expected and anticipated David’s ongoing kindness and support. It never quite came to that for Jonathan because of his early death. But David clearly showed the kindness he had earlier expressed when he cared for Jonathan’s crippled son. There is nothing supposed this accountability partnership will be easy. It will certainly require the grace of God on the part of both partners. Though not easy, it can be a marvelous relationship and ministry. Jesus expresses the extreme extent of this relationship when He says a friend will even lay down his life for his friend. Hopefully, it will not come to that extreme but the willingness to accept even this is intended in accountability partnerships. Do you dare?

Scriptures to Read

Proverbs 18:24

Amos 3:3

Proverbs 17:17

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

I Samuel 18:1-3

I Samuel 20:1-4

St. John 13:34-35