Accountability: God's Horizontal Helpline

In my previous article, I talked about repentance and said that an important part of repentance is setting ourselves up to avoid falling into sin again. We do this by figuratively "burning down the house and salting the field" so as to make going back to where we came from unprofitable.

In this edition of "Soul Feast," I want to expound on a tool God has provided, which if used faithfully, will help us live a life free from sinful eating habits. I'm talking about accountability.

Much has been written on the subject of accountability* so I won't spend time going over what it is. In its simplest, accountability is honesty. For years I had no problem with weight, but over time, I began slipping into such practices as hiding food and eating when no one was looking, and as a result, my weight soared. When the Lord touched my heart concerning this and I turned in repentance from dishonesty to walking in openness, my weight dropped back down to where it belonged.

The most straightforward accountability partner available to us is perhaps the most candid. I'm speaking of our humble mechanical friend, the bathroom scale.

Now I know some of us may have had problems with the scale in the past. We may have overblown its importance--weighing ourselves several times a day, as if "scale hopping" was some new form of aerobic exercise--or we may have left it to collect dust. Neither of these approaches is best.

Christ didn’t release us from bondage to food to chain us to our scales, but if we're going to make use of our "mechanical accountability partner," we need to weigh-in. Once a week is good. Then we can compare one week's weight with our previous week's weight and see whether we've gained or lost and how much.

If you have a history of scale overdependence, you might consider asking someone you live with to oversee your weighing in, or you could weigh at your doctor's office, a drug store, or a friend's house. Students who don't own scales might consider these alternatives as well.

Another type of accountability partner is the human type talked about on Day 15 of The Lord's Table--someone we've asked to fill this specific role in our lives. This could be a friend, spouse or other family member, fellow church member, or even your mentor. It could be one person or a group of like-minded individuals, though beware the "support group" mentality where you get together only to commiserate with one another's failings! The foundation of your support should be the Bible and the goal to see one another walking in victory.

An accountability partner mustn't be too hard or too soft. We need to call sin, sin, but there's no need to come out with both barrels blazing. If we look at the above verse in context, we see that the admonishment to care for one another is right in the middle of the classic section on Christ's humility. Accountability requires humility. If I'm being held accountable, I must take heed of what my partner is saying, even if I don't like it, and I must allow her to "ask the hard questions." In the reverse role, I must act with the gentle humility of Christ, taking into consideration the feelings and heart of my partner. If we're at a luncheon and I see her take a third or fourth cookie, I don't slap her hand away. The Lord sends us alongside to help, not humiliate, one another.

Interestingly enough, this well-known "accountability" section of Ecclesiastes is also a popular selection at weddings. That says something to me. It says that an accountability partner is a friend; and more than a friend, a companion for the journey. Like marriage, accountability is a relationship of commitment and trust. As an accountability partner, we commit ourselves to the care, nurturing and well-being of another person.

Once you've set up an accountability relationship, commit yourself to making daily contact. If your mentor is your partner, this means emailing in your accountability report every day, even if you miss a lesson. Consider it your responsibility to initiate contact each day. Don't wait for your partner to call or email you.

What type of information should you include in your daily report? Start with the basics.

1. Feasting. When you spend time with the Lord, why not ask Him for something specific which will encourage your accountability partner?

2. Discipline. Try not to concentrate on what you ate or didn't eat. Instead, talk about your areas of victory--how the Lord was faithful to help you overcome temptation. Also, talk about areas of defeat, recognizing and repenting of specific sins, and consider what you'll do different to avoid falling in that area again.

3. Exercise. Some of us are more active to start out and some of us have physical limitations. Make sure your accountability partner understands where you are physically so you can report what things you did that day above your normal range of activities, whether it's an hour on the treadmill or something as simple as taking the stairs.

Another thing to share is your "Break the Chain" plan. This is talked about in Day 26 of The Lord's Table. With the help of the Holy Spirit, pinpoint where you fall the most and come up with a plan to avoid getting into those situations. For example, if you normally snack in front of the TV at night, change your evening routine to avoid the television.

Finally, in addition to weighing in and having a formal accountability partner, we need to make ourselves accountable in the broader sense, beginning at home. Remember, honesty. If you have children, they can be a wonderful help. I've told this story before, but last holiday the children and I decided we'd had enough sweets and should take a day off. Now having those goodies so close at hand was hard for me. How easy it would have been to sneak something while the children were playing elsewhere. But we'd promised--made a covenant, if you will--and I couldn't break it. That's what gave me strength. We know that when we sin we break God's heart, but having my children involved made the pain of my betrayal much more real.

So make yourself accountable to those you live with, simply by being truthful with them.

Beyond our four walls, the principle of accountability is simple. Share the light and others will expect to see you shine. Hiding our light extinguishes it. If we want to succeed, we need to take advantage of this "built-in" accountability system. When others start noticing your weight loss, tell them, not so much about The Lord's Table, but rather about how the Lord is working in you to bring about this outward manifestation of an inward change. Once you do, they'll be watching to see whether your testimony is true. If you begin to put on weight, they'll notice. This alone can be impetus enough to keep us from returning to the salty ashes of our past.

To sum up, accountability is the "horizontal helpline" God designed to keep us on track. It's that brother or sister who comes alongside to admonish and encourage us toward godliness, and whom we encourage and admonish as well, and it's our family--both in the natural and the spiritual sense--and anyone else with whom we're open and honest. Accountability requires humility, and trust that we'll treat one another with the love of Christ.

Accountability may mean stepping out into vulnerability; but it's a vulnerability critical to overcoming sinful eating habits.

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* If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend Mike Cleveland's excellent article, "The Necessity of Accountability," which can be found at http://www.settingcaptivesfree.com/resources/article/necessity-accountability/

Gratefully His,
Lynda Braun
Team Member, Setting Captives Free

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