Accountability

“In making disciples, obedience is the outworking of faith. Apart from faithfulness, the training process would end.”

Without prying, yet with firmness, we need to inquire about the welfare of one another. What about our prayer life? How are things at home? Have we been diligent in bearing witness to our faith? Attitudes come in for review as well as actions. Where negligence is discovered, rebuke may be necessary in love. At the same time, we should freely commend good traits and affirm the gifts and self-worth of persons with us.

Half-hearted, lukewarm commitment can never be condoned in the ranks of God’s army. We are engaged in mortal combat with all the principalities of darkness, and the battle will grow more intense as the end of the age approaches. Nothing less than total allegiance to our Commander-in-chief qualifies soldiers for battle. Christ’s call is to martyrdom—to die to our own self-appointed ways, in loving submission to the will of God. His Word is our command, His cross the measure of our obedience. Such consecration may be looked upon as fanaticism by the worldy-wise, but it is the stuff the New Testament church is made of: daring faith that does not think of limits or make excuses; a willingness to go wherever Christ leads, never to stop until His work is finished and the commendation is heard, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”

“Hindrances that obstruct His dominion need to be confessed, and our hearts need to be cleansed so that the Spirit of holiness can fill us with the love of God. Though we can never contain all of Him, He wants all of us—to love Him and adore Him with all that we are and all that we hope to be.”

― Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism