Tag Archives: Accountability

5 Ways To Check Your Blind Spot

Bible, ,

By Angela Tooley

Most of us think of ourselves as good drivers, usually all the time. But I feel confident that we all have had a bad experience with blind spots – that seemingly small space in between our line of vision and what we see in the rearview mirror. In Driver’s Ed we were taught to turn and look to check the blind spot. Sometimes we can get a little lazy about checking that spot or we allow distractions to keep us from turning to check.

That gets us in trouble when we veer into occupied space. And it’s particularly upsetting when someone else ventures into the space we occupy! Nothing good happens – we will collide, or we will wildly swerve hoping to avoid the collision and possibly hit something else.  At the very least we all get upset.

Think about your own blind spots (and yes, we all have them). If you don’t think that you have a blind spot well that is called denial. 😊

Denial allows us to be distracted from paying attention to our bad habits and addictions, to those things we need to work to get rid of in our lives. Pride, perfectionism, low self-esteem, shame, and gossip are just a few examples of those habits.

Denial also gives addictions a place to live. Addictions like pornography, alcohol and chemical addiction won’t begin to go way until the denial blind spot gets checked.

Here are five ways that we can take the action needed to look at our own blind spots:

  • Accountability partners – “Walk with the wise and become wise” Proverbs 13:20
  • Encouragement from Godly friends – “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17
  • Be patient – “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart” Psalm 27:14
  • Live in truth – “Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth” Psalm 86:11
  • Trust God – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

With God’s help and others, our new ways to look at our blind spots will become a healthy habit!

 

What Accountability Looks Like

Bible,

Men discussionAccountability partners are a great help in the fight against pornography.

James 5:16: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”

However, many people are surprised that their confessing to and praying for each other is not always bringing the healing. Well, confessing is a bit more than just saying “I looked at porn last Tuesday.”

When I managed a staff of employees and something went wrong, I led them through an examination of the process that led to the mistake. We then determined if we needed a new way of doing things to avoid the mistake in the future.

Accountability is the same way. Identify the series of steps that led to the sin. James 1:14-15 explains this process. I’ll number the steps so you see them clearly.

“Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own
1. evil desire and
2. enticed. Then, after
3. desire has conceived, it gives birth to
4. sin; and sin, when it is
5. full-grown, gives birth to
6. death.”

Covenant Eyes has produced a wonderful resource called “Christian Accountability: A Discussion Guide.” This list of over thirty questions includes the following.

1. On a scale of 1 (HELP!) to 9 (Stable), rate the following:

  • I have actively avoided known triggers of sexual temptation or titillation.
  • My time with technology or media has not displaced time with God, family, friends, work, or my neighbors.
  • I am resting completely in what Christ has done for me-not obsessing about my own failures nor putting stock in my own performance.

2. When it comes to my habitual sins, is there a time of day, a place, a person, or a mood that tends to open the door to more tempting situations?

Covenant Eyes. (2013, April 5). Christian Accountability: A Discussion Guide. Retrieved from Accountability Questions: Discussion Guide For Accountability Partners : http://www.covenanteyes.com/lemonade/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Christian-Accountability-Discussion-Guide.pdf