In this harvest time of year, we feel the excitement of results in our lives. We are picking, canning, freezing, and storing away what was planted into the prepared ground in the spring, watered and fertilized in the summer, and is now ready and ripe for harvest. We feel a sense of ownership in the crop that we think we grew. Paul reminds us that we are indeed accountable to the work of “planting and watering but only God can give the increase to harvest.” 1 Cor 3:6
Accountability
We are accountable to be faithful to our labor of planting, watering, and harvesting while knowing that it is God that we are faithful to in all of these areas of our lives.
Once we can recognize God as our creator and owner it helps to prepare us spiritually for a life of true stewardship. If we embrace our role and purpose in life as a steward, then we understand we are “accountable” to the Owner for a return on what He has blessed us with.
Let’s reflect for a moment on our perspective of accountability. In our day-to-day lives, we have become comfortable with our self-imposed levels of accountability. The most common areas for us are around local municipal laws and regulations – speed limits, stop signs, stop lights, no parking areas …
To make sure we are prepared to live within these boundaries we have to pass a test and obtain a driver’s license just to have the privilege to participate in driving and thus we become accountable to the laws and rules that are set for us. We know these boundaries are for our safety and well-being, but we also would have to admit that we transgress them from time to time.
We also know that if we are caught in that transgression, we stand accountable to the law we broke and the municipality that established it. We also readily understand that we are responsible for our conduct while driving and we cannot compare our view of the laws or our transgressions to others. We may know all too well how this goes when our response to the officer who pulled us over for speeding is “But officer everybody else was passing me….”
If we simply apply this logic to stewardship, we are accountable to the owner for what he has entrusted to us and He has provided guidelines and boundaries for us in all areas of our lives on how we are to conduct ourselves and how we reflect our accountability by our actions.
By looking at God as our creator and owner and knowing we are accountable for giving back to Him a return on the blessings he has provided us it positions us to live our lives more from our heart and spirit than our head. Our brains are powerful computers, but we may often solve lots of challenges that God never intended us to bear because we ignored His speed limit or stop sign.
God will guide us if we let him and if we see our lives as accountable to Him as our creator, He promises to finish our works into a great harvest!
PRAYER
Please visit our How Can We Pray For You page if you want prayer.
LEARN MORE
Would you like to learn more about Beulah Hill Christian Church? Please check out the Who We Are Page. You can meet our Pastor and find out what the symbol of the Disciples of Christ is and its history.
Find us and connect with us on Facebook.
Leave a Reply