A Physical for the Christian Soul

I don’t know if this is true for you, but if my desire is deep enough I can rationalize away anything, even though I know better.  My desire enables me to shoot myself in the foot.

For example, my metabolism is beginning to slow, but my eating habits haven’t. I still eat what I want when I want because I have always been able to do it.

Well, I haven’t put the breaks on my eating habit and have gained about 10 pounds. Even though I do not need eat the same amount of food I as I used to, I still do. I just polished of a small carton of ice cream. I wasn’t really hungry, it just sounded good so my desire rationalized eating the whole thing.

If I don’t get a handle on this struggle soon, I will have entered into the world of gluttony and loss of self-control.

I could wrestle with this issue silently in mind and tell myself that “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can” all I want, but when the temptation comes, can I? Will I?

This is particularly true for men. I have heard it said that women need relationships, men need accountability. Men have a sly way of rationalizing any behavior they desire. For proof, just look at all the dumb things guys do and then listen to their excuses when they get busted.

Scripture admonishes us to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:21)

That is because Christ has affected our hearts in such a way that we are compelled to love him. For he is the one who freed us from the things that bind us and secured our eternal life.

Think about that for a second. Here is a man who has done what no other man is able to do. He was the only one ever to meet the demands of God and the only one ever to earn his way into heaven. He then gave that to us and took upon him our imperfection and impurity because he intensely loved us.

These are the reasons we lift him up, bow down, and revere him. This is what compels us to love him. It is out of that reverence that we remain accountable to one another so that we do not defile his name.

My grandfather was well respected public figure in the town where they lived. I remember one of my uncles telling me that when he was in high school my grandmother would say to him before he went out for the night, “Don’t do anything that will embarrass you father because you love him.”

It was out of respect and love for my grandfather that controlled my uncle from doing really stupid stuff. Let those same words be true for us. The reason we choose not to do stupid stuff comes from the love that Christ … and possibly your parents, spouse, or children have toward you.  Let that love compel you to resist doing stuff that will harm yourself and those relationships.

Accountability keeps us in check; strengthens us to resist the devil so that he will flee from us (James 4:7); and draws us closer to one another so that true friendships may form.

What has been your experience with being accountable to someone else? How has it strengthened you or kept you in check? Please share your experiences with us. It will encourage our readers and may inspire them to find someone to become accountable to.