Accountability

Last week I was watching "House," and the patient of the week was a lady whose passion was her daily blog. I was interested, in part because I was looking for tips....Ok, just kidding. But I was still fascinated by her devotion to her blog and her absolute devotion to sharing every thought and every comment made by her and everyone in her life on a daily basis.

Of course, her family and friends were less impressed. Every single thought or word that came to mind was put up on her public site for debate and feedback. So was everything said to her by doctors, friends, relatives and her boyfriend. It was kind of a startling thought for most of the characters, as it was for me, that everything that was said in her presence was shared with the world. She said it was to hold people accountable.

My first reaction was that was one of the craziest things I'd ever heard. Then I thought about it some more. I don't think that everything I say should be posted on the Internet, but I thought about what it would be like if it was. I couldn't help but wonder how that would change my daily interactions and how it would change people's perception of me.

While the patient depicted in the show takes accountability to the extreme, there is a good lesson to be learned for believers. Often, the book of James is criticized and mis-understood when it comes to talking about faith and works. In James 2:18, it says "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do." What he's saying there is that faith is more than words, it's reflected in our actions and in our inter-actions with others.

Too often Christians proclaim their faith but don't show it. An old D.C. Talk song focuses on that, saying in the introduction "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

If we're honest, I think we'd all have to say there are times where we aren't the best ambassadors of Jesus Christ. I know that's true in my life.

Thankfully no one is blogging my every thought and phrase each day, but what if they were? That thought has been convicting me the last week, hopefully it will for you too.