Accountability or Bust

Usually, a sentence or title with the word ‘bust’ in it means, “Force of will of nature; won’t stop until accomplishment of success has been achieved.” 

The Bible says that if we love God, we will keep His commandments, known as the law, even though we are no longer under the law.  We are under dispensation of grace since Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

As children of God, the Lord expects those that are called by His name, Christian, to abide in truth and keep the 10 Commandments.  Christian means Christlike.  If a person says they love God and do not keep His commandments, the Bible says that they are a liar, and the truth is not in them.

The above statement not only applies to newborn Christians that are just starting out on their journey with Jesus, but to top executives in upper levels of church leadership.

No matter what level faith a Believer may be in God’s work, they need to walk circumspectly and softly before the Lord and keep the vertical in right prospective so that the horizontal outreach can flourish.  Accountability and dedication to God is everything regarding the statement, “accountability or bust.”

My wife and I did our best to raise three children with moral values and integrity.  It was a challenge at times, but our determination stood the test of time.  In our household the unspoken axiom we lived by was “accountability or bust.”

(Proverbs 22:6), “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

As adults, our children are now raising their own offspring with the value of being responsible and accountable for what they say and do.  Occasionally, when they are correcting their children in my presence, I will hear words that I spoke to them finding their way back to me, like a boomerang.  It always makes me smile.

Perseverance on our part paid off with great dividends even though disagreement raised its head from time to time.  My wife and I were proactive and persistent in our endeavors to raise our children with principles and to reverence the statutes of God, while respecting us as their parents.  We must have done something right.  Isn’t this what God does with His children?

God is long-suffering, gentle, and kind.  I may not, at times, agree with everything He wants me to do or not do, but He works with me as I did with my daughter and two sons.  They did not learn obedience or honorable skills overnight; it took time to teach them what good behavior was all about.

Chastisement was not an easy task to implement, but we loved them and believed in tough love to emphasize the importance of responsibility and accountability.  God loves me dearly and sometimes chastens me to enhance spiritual growth and teach me how to respect and honor Him as Heavenly Father.

This training does not happen overnight or instantaneously.  It takes time for God to knock off all the worldly barnacles that remain attached to my thinking and disposition. 

He is working to form me into His image, like a master potter that works with clay.  God is the Potter, and I am the clay.  He is patiently smoothing out all the rough spots in me as He does with all His children.

(Hebrews 12:7-11), “If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?” (vs 8) “But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.” (vs 9) “Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect.  Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?” (vs 10) “For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.” (vs 11) “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

God is teaching me, daily, how to put off the old nature and grow in grace, which is the new nature that He imparted to me at the time of my conversion.  I was a sinner, but that day when I asked for mercy, I became God’s child after He forgave my sins.  I was saved by grace through faith.  Some people call this process of spiritual growth, stewardship and accountability.  Others call it sanctification. 

Early on in a person’s walk with the Lord and interacting with Him, there is an awareness of the Holy Spirit’s ongoing support and guidance.  God is long suffering and understands our strong-headed personalities.  With all our kicking and bad attitudes, He sees beauty in us as He kneads and molds the clay into vessels of honor.

Jesus cleanses us with His blood that He shed on the cross for our redemption.   Our soul is made pure as the driven snow in God’s sight.  Our unwavering devotion reaffirms “accountability or bust” or better yet, “heaven or bust.”

Written by,

Papa Boyd