Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

Galatians 6:1-2 - The Message

Last night a bunch of the Lakeside young adults (yes, we call ourselves the youth group but we are really all young adults) got together at Steve Ruggerio’s house and we had a great Biblically based discussion on things we all struggle with in our Christian walk. We all named different things, and you could tell a common theme among those of us who admitted what we struggle with was that it doesn’t go away, and sometimes it’s almost too much for someone to handle by themselves.

I was troubled when I heard this, and I vocalized my thoughts after I too admitted things that I struggle with and asked for everyone’s continued prayers. I told the group that if I wasn’t bold enough to mention my struggle and ask for prayer in front of the group, no one would have individually taken their own time to go out of their way and ask if I needed help with anything. Chalk one up for spiritual immaturity or whatever it may be…but it showed that there was a lack of accountability between individual members of our group.

I wasn’t picking on anyone when I said that, in fact, it’s indicative of too many of our churches nowadays. It takes time and effort to help a brother or sister in the faith, and yes, while it’s true that we need to focus on our own spirituality and work out our own salvation (see [bible]Philippians 2:12[/bible]), many times we can be selfish, apathetic and just plain unwilling to try to help someone else out.

Are we spiritually immature? Are we scared to offend? Are we too wrapped up in our own relationships with the Lord that we sometimes forget that someone else may be struggling? Do we not trust each other at times? After I came home last night, I had to think long and hard about these questions and I even had to say yes to all of them. The Lord spoke to me and told me that without personal accountability among the members of the youth group, our relationships with each other will die. That’s kinda harsh but it’s true. Either we’re involved in each others’ lives or we’re not.

[bible]Hebrews 10:24[/bible] tells us to encourage each other toward love and good deeds. That’s what accountability is designed for….it may require some tough love at times, but in the end it’s all for the good. If there is no accountability, personal relationships with others in the church are just about as good as dead.

It takes time to develop Christian accountability friendships, but in the end it is so worth it. The benefits are so amazing, and it brings a group tighter than it ever could be. It requires trust, but then again isn’t the Christian walk about trust and faith in God and in our fellow man???