Accountability can be defined as being responsible to someone else, or being responsible for something. A Biblical principle for accountability is that man is answerable to his Maker for his thoughts, words, and deeds. Man is also accountable to other men for his actions. In Genesis 4:9, “the Lord said to Cain, Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” That question was self-answerable. We are to watch out for our brothers and sisters.
Our role in accountability can be explained in the following verse: Ezekiel 3:18 says “When I say to a wicked man, “You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.” As Christians we are called to warn others about the sin that so easily entraps us. We are called to point out the areas in peoples’ lives that are leading them to death and encourage them to turn from their evil ways, especially because the end times are approaching. Hebrews 10:25 says “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habbit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
If holding eachother accountable is so important, than why do we so many times pull back from confronting our friends? The answer is simply because we are selfish. We are scared that the person we are confronting will be angry with us or blow us off. Many times, the person will not accept what we have to say because when involved in a sin, we are blinded. We don’t see things clearly and don’t want to change. Obviously protecting our own emotions compared to protecting the salvation of another is selfish. We must put the good of our brothers and sisters above the uncomfortability that that puts us through.
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We are called to “Confess [our] sins to each other and pray for each other so that [we] may be healed.” James 5:16. When doing so, we must “listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end [we] will be wise.” Proverbs 19:20.
The positive results of being accountable far out-weigh the negative results. We will be wiser after listening to godly counsel, we may be healed, and far better than all the rest, “whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.” James 5:20.
