Catch Me, Please
What if we are running from the thing we need most — namely, to be caught?
To be named and seen and noticed and corrected. It’s not regular in our culture, but the Bible talks about it a lot:
... if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. — Galatians 6:1
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls and will give an account... — Hebrews 13:17
Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. — Ephesians 4:25
If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. — Matthew 18:15
Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.
— Proverbs 15:22
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. — Ephesians 5:21 NIV
These are only a few of the dozens and dozens of verses and passages that speak to this idea of submission, accountability, and both receiving and giving loving correction.
I’m often asked about what I think makes friendships work, about what I think “authentic community” actually is, and while there are several aspects to that vision, at the top of the list would be the practice of saying hard things and the practice of listening to and receiving those hard things.
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. — Proverbs 27:17 NIV
We have the opportunity to both sharpen and be sharpened, if only we’ll see our relationships as the anvil that they are. And yet who in their right mind wants to sign up for being the piece of metal that’s getting reshaped? Tortuous flames, the pounding against an unforgiving surface, the bending and prodding and pain. Nobody thinks they want that experience, but we do. We actually crave it. We just don’t always know how to have it.
God's way to keep us together and protect us from the enemy and sin is each other
What Keeps Us from Accountability?
There is a bigger enemy to living this way than our discomfort: pride.
Pride is the great coverup for what we all know is really true. We are all sinners, in need of grace.
Adam and Eve eat the apple. Hide from God and then devise a plan. Maybe He won’t notice we are naked and ashamed if we put on these cute stylish little leaves!
So they pull out their sewing machine, throw together little outfits, and come out of hiding with their heads held high.
“All good here!” they chime. But God knows better. Adam blames Eve. Eve blames the snake. Pride sinks them both.
Pride is our defense when we are accused. Our opinion, we are certain, is Bible truth. Our good works we set out to show we are a good person. Our achievements that mean we are justified. Our proof we wave around to show we aren’t sinful. Pride says, How dare she say that! Or How dare he criticize me!
But nothing on earth is more freeing than just owning it. Being caught. Admitting we sin. Owning our mistakes. Laying down our defenses and proving ourselves, and joyfully resting in God’s provision for our sins.
And let me tell you — people who live this way are my FAVORITES! They are self-deprecating and never defensive and fun and honest and free. And they can be you and me, if we accept that God’s got us, and He’s got the people around us.
Getting Sharp
If you’re committed to growing, you will start to see that anvil I mentioned not as punishment but as progress you desperately need. You will quit hiding and hedging. You will quit recoiling when questions are asked. You will quit pretending that you have it all together. You will let a little useful pounding into your life.
Scripture says we need this:
See to it... that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. — Hebrews 3:12–13 BSB,
His way to keep us together and protect us from the enemy and sin is EACH OTHER.
Our people fighting for us and us fighting for them.
Excerpted from Find Your People study guide.
We were made to live in community of family, neighbors, and society. Within these we are to love, worship, and hold one another accountable to God. May we recognize our place in the plan of God and live pleasing to Him in all our communities!
Pastor Dale