Grace: A 5 Day Devotionalنموونە

A. Grace is Accountability. 

I Corinthians 10:13 KJV: "There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 

I Corinthians 10:13 NLT: "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful.  He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 

Gift of 

Responsibility 

And Accountability shown  

With Compassion 

And Empathy 

When I think of Accountability I think of living in a time where “cancel culture” is literally the phrase that won’t go away - even from the mouths of those who call themselves Christians.  When I think about “cancel culture” it immediately comes to me that it is ANTI-GRACE. Because all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, we all need GRACE in life at some point. If cancel-culture is something you believe in or subscribe to it has the possibility of removing GRACE altogether in your own life. This doesn’t take away the necessity of accountability but it is a part of the process of Grace where acknowledgment is made and we are free from condemnation. 

The phrase that God will never put more on you than you can bear is the way this scripture is often “misquoted” or misunderstood. 

There is nothing you can experience in your life that someone before you hasn’t experienced in some way. When you first understand that you are NOT alone, it removes the deception that the enemy will often bring to your mind that nobody gets you, no one understands you, or that you are in this alone. That is ALL LIES.  

James 1 2-6 KJV: "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

Trials and temptations are a part of life, but they are an expected part of life that can be beaten. You CAN have the victory over things that were once weaknesses or recurring instances of falling in your walk with Christ. 

It takes faith, patience, and doing the work necessary to have victory over things that once  “controlled” you or things that you’ve fallen weak to in times past. These are also the times when you also need to give grace to yourself. If you are anything like me, I can be very hard on myself. This can be an issue but the simple answer to that is this: if God can forgive you, who are you NOT to forgive yourself? 

John 1:9 NIV: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

At the center of GRACE is accountability so when people do things that require justice to be served, answers to be given or acts of retribution must take place GRACE must remain in the equation.  

Everyone has a weakness, an area in their life that if they aren’t careful could cause them to fall out of the will of God. The beauty of GRACE is that should you fall, GRACE is the reason you can get back up and move forward. 

I believe in being accountable and I believe in holding others accountable as well. That said it’s not an accident that accountability falls right in the middle of  GRACE… Specifically, it is positioned between responsibility and compassion. 

Romans 5:20 KJV: "Moreover, the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."

God’s GRACE is there to catch us when we fall. It is equally important to understand that God’s GRACE still holds us accountable but also offers protection and restoration at the same time. 

Holding yourself or perhaps another individual accountable for what they have said or done is not wrong. In fact, it is one of the many ways that iron sharpens iron - we should hold ourselves and one another accountable. But accountability without grace is judgment, it is cancel-culture at its worst and GRACE cannot co-exist in the same place as cancel culture. They are polar opposites.  

GRACE is everything you need and even more of what you didn’t know you needed. GRACE is Accountability.