Dennis Rainey: To whom are you accountable?
Guest: There are three people: first, my wife; I have a good friend from back home; and someone that I work with everyday. Those three see me in three different lights, so it's important to give them access to my life from those three different windows.
Dennis Rainey: You know, the Pennsylvania Quakers had a rare kind of accountability system. Way back in the 1800's, they heard of a man who was beating his wife. So what did they do? Well, a bunch of them got together and took all of his clothes off and drug him through the brush backwards, through a field full of thistles. Then they told him, if he continued to deal unkindly with his wife, they weren't going to take to it very lightly. They were going to get upset next time!
No matter where you and I are most tempted, we don't have to wait for a posse of friends, relatives, and neighbors to confront us. Instead, we need to be accountable to someone.
One final thought. Why don't you consider calling someone today and giving a friend or your spouse access to your life, to ask you those really hard questions? And then, do you know what? Be honest with them!
I'm Dennis Rainey, and that really is Real FamilyLife.
