Accountability

Accountability. It's not the most comforting of words and for some it may cause trepidation, but oh how necessary it is. It is a word that has come out of my mouth many times in the past few days and so I must ask myself, who am I accountable to? Thankfully I have a great support group of family and friends who love me enough to keep me accountable and I am thankful that the Lord has kept my pride in check so that I can turn to them. Unfortunately I think there are too many people who don't think they need accountability. They think the decisions they make are their own and they falsely believe those decisions don't effect others. In Exodus 20 right in the middle of the Ten Commandments God says "I the Lord am a jealous God punishing the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and forth generation of those who hate me but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments." How gracious God is! The harmful effects of sin can effect our grandchildren and great-grandchildren but how exciting to know that our obedience will effect thousands of generations. At my high school graduation we sang the Steve Green song that says "May all who come behind me find me faithful, may the fire of my devotion light their way, may the footprints that we leave lead them to believe and the lives we live inspire them to obey." Those words hold so much more meaning to me now that I have children of my own. I pray my life will be a legacy of obedience so my children can also enjoy the love of the Lord.