BEARING ONE ANOTHER’S BURDENS
Many people object to the idea of accountability because they don’t see how other people’s actions are any of their business. But the Bible insists that we in the body of Christ all have a responsibility to one another.
Paul taught that if a believer is caught in sin, the strong members of the church are to help shoulder the responsibility of that person’s sin. They are to work with the sinner to help him get back on track (Gal. 6:1–3). This implies that our sin is other people’s business; and conversely, their sin becomes part of our responsibility. Nowhere in Scripture are we told that our sin is something just between us and God.
A woman in our church in Miami was married for only a short time when her husband revealed his homosexuality. Soon afterwards he left her to be with his lover. She told me something I shall never forget. “After I was divorced,” she said, “several of my friends came to me and said they knew he was gay before we married. When I asked them why they didn’t say anything, they replied, ‘We didn’t think it was any of our business.’ ”
After hearing her story, I made up my mind never to stand by quietly and watch a friend make what I felt sure was a mistake. This resolution occasionally makes me very unpopular. People have left the church over things I have confronted them about. But when I start thinking that maybe I should keep my mouth shut, I always remember Solomon’s words: “He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with the tongue” (Prov. 28:23).
It amazes me how often people come back to me or write letters to apologize for their reaction to my warnings. More often than not, they admit that they should have listened.
Remember this, in an accountability relationship you are not responsible for how the other person responds to you. But you are responsible to tell the truth and then continue to love that person through the process.
The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible Excerpt across the page from Galatians 6:1-3
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