In today’s post to his blog, Jack’s Winning Words, Pastor Freed used this quote, which was sent to him by one of his followers – “When you forgive, you live. When you let go, you grow.” (Sent by Sandi)
Jack went on to write –INC. magazine published an article on How to Be a Better Person. Practice forgiveness was one suggestion. Be open to change was another. Others: Let go of anger – Be honest – Listen to what’s being said – Be polite and respectful – and there were more.
Jack also made the point that all of those things require that one make an effort. They don’t just happen. You make them happen.
Letting go. Forgiving. Listening. Being polite and respectful. These are all conscious efforts, but they are not efforts that you must do alone. In the business world there is the concept of having an accountability partner – someone with whom you agree to be completely honest and who agrees to hold you accountable for the things that you commit to do. They make sure that you make the effort to reach the goals that you have shared with them.
In life, one may also have an accountability partner, someone that you trust completely with your life’s secrets; however, I submit that we already have that partner – God. If we are honest with ourselves and God about wanting to be a better person by doing all of the things listed above, then we must hold ourselves accountable to God for what we have accomplished and what we have left undone. We do that through daily prayer, because that is the time when we open ourselves up to God and hold our lives up to His light. It may well be that the thing that we often think of as our conscience – that little voice that we hear inside our head that tells us the difference between right and wrong – is really the voice of God holding us accountable. We know when we haven’t made the effort, because that little voice admonishes us.
You can make sure that God as your accountability partner for life is there with you all day long, if you start out each morning asking for His help throughout the day. Try it and see if that little voice doesn’t stick with you all day long as you make choices to do or not do something; to make the effort or not. You might be surprised how empowering it is to have God along all day as your accountability partner. At the end of the day, you will also feel much better about what you accomplished and about tomorrow and the future.
With God’s help, you will make the effort! And with Him as your accountability partner, you will be successful.
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