“Accountability” is talked about frequently in churches of all types. We recognize the need for it when we think about overcoming sin in our lives in view of passages like Hebrews 10:24 (“let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works”), Galatians 6:1 (“Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness”), or Eccl. 4:9-10 (“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow”).

But we have a bit of trouble understanding what accountability truly should be.

Our brother Edwin Crozier points out that it’s not supposed to be just over-the-shoulder monitoring, which is how we most often think of it. He says:

“We most commonly say, ‘I’ve got to find someone to hold me accountable. They’re gonna look over my shoulder.’ And so we go to that person and we say, ‘Look, here’s my problem. I would like for you to just call me every once in awhile and ask me how I’m doing with that.’

This is a plan for failure. Not only is it a plan for failure; it’s a plan for failure that plans to allow you blame someone else. Because who have you given ownership of your spiritual growth to? That person who’s supposed to be looking over my shoulder. And so, when they get busy and they don’t call you and you stumble and fall, then we think, ‘That’s not my fault; that’s your fault, y’know? You were supposed to call me. What can I do? We all know I can’t do this on my own, but you didn’t call me.’”

There’s a major difference between thinking, “I need someone to keep me accountable” and thinking, “I’m going to find someone to whom I will be accountable.” I do encourage you to seek some accountability if you’re looking for help overcoming sin. You can’t do it alone, and you need to admit that and find some help, especially when you are willing to admit that your sin is controlling you. But make sure you find someone to offer you the right kind of accountability. Not that you turn your pursuit of God solely into their responsibility, but that you have determined to seek God, and you want someone that can help you win the battle which you are already ardently fighting.

- Dan Lankford, minister

Christians often talk about the 'storms of life' when we read Jesus' admonition that:

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock." (Matt. 7:24-25)

As Hurricane Matthew is making landfall in Haiti this morning, weather experts and social aid volunteers are already calling the storm a worst-case scenario for the people of that country. A large number of homes there are built on loose mud surfaces. Many of them—simply because many families are too impoverished to afford anything more—are built of mud and sticks or just stacked cinderblocks. With that being the case, their houses are in great danger from the category 4 storm.

The destruction in Haiti ought to give us a clear picture of how bad the loss of a soul really is—how bad the situation is which Jesus describes in Matthew 7. We'll be seeing people lose the little bit that this life has to offer. Many will be homeless. Many will flounder not knowing their next steps or plans for moving forward. Many will weep for themselves and their families.

Is it not the same when we think of souls lost without God? Let's continually be sure that our own lives are founded on the rock—living the Gospel. And let's continually be reaching out to others in effort to save them—sharing the Gospel.

- Dan Lankford, minister

I love African American spirituals from the pre-Civil-War era of this country. They are an important American cultural artifact. They demonstrate a very Biblical mindset of a people who had been displaced from their homes and who were longing to be freed. And yet, they clung tenaciously to their hope in God and their desire to serve him even in the hardest stations of life. One song, written in the old style of those spirituals, holds my attention for its sentiment:

“Lord, I keep so busy praising my Jesus... Lord, I keep so busy serving my Master... Lord, I keep so busy working for the Kingdom... I ain’t got time to die! Because it takes all of my time! If I don’t praise him, the rocks gon’ cry out, ‘Glory and honor!’ I ain’t got time to die!”

That was the same attitude as the apostle Paul when he wrote, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:23-26).

The reality was that there was a GREAT work to do for the Lord! And Paul knew it so deeply—and he was committed to it so fully—that even while he knew death would bring him to the presence of the God he loved more than anything, he also knew that there was much he could do for the Lord still in this life!
How many of us have ever come close to exhibiting this level of devotion? How many of us would be willing to say that even Heaven itself could wait because we are so committed to our service to God—to our work in his kingdom?

May God give us the strength to work so diligently for him in this life. May our love for him be so strong that we just “ain’t got time to die” because we are just so busy working for our Master!

- Dan Lankford, minister

Three times in the book of Genesis, Abraham rose early in the morning. In each case, he was seeking the will of God.

In Gen. 19:27, he rose early in the morning to see God's will accomplished against Sodom & Gomorrah.

In Gen. 21:14, he rose early in the morning to send Hagar & Ishmael on their way to make room for Isaac—the child of promise—to flourish.

And then in Gen. 22:3, Abraham rose early in the morning for what surely could have been the hardest thing he ever did in his life—the journey to where he would kill his own son.

From Abraham's example, I learn an important lesson about the vitality of a life that truly seeks God. When Abraham sought God, he sought him from dawn to dusk. On these days, even though it might be difficult, he began his day with a determination to see God's will done around him.

I want to encourage you to do two things. First, whenever you wake up, set your mind on the will of God first. Start with a focus on him before you give assent to anything else in the day. And second, try getting up an hour earlier than you have to [or staying up an hour later than you typically do (Psa. 119:62)] and giving the extra time to God. Pray, read your Bible, take a walk, or just meditate on who he is and who he calls you to be.

Let's all make a deliberate effort—to go out of our way—to seek the will of God.

- Dan Lankford, minister

In Jesus’ story of the lost and found son, the younger son demands his inheritance from his still-living father, he goes to a far country, and he wastes his fortune. And Jesus says, “when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.” (Luke 15:14-16).

It took a fall to the depths to make him realize the true heights he had enjoyed while still with his father. And the young man’s story of deprivation and degradation must surely remind us of our own lives.

Unfortunately, our best perspective on the heights of good comes when we fallen to the depths of evil. For us, the depths may come in the form of infidelity, financial hardship, physical sickness or disability, or any number of other strains which life places upon us.

It’s there that our minds become intuitively aware of not only the possibility but the absolute certainty that there must be something better. Our sense of the divine allows us to perceive a benevolent God’s presence through the created world and even hard-wired into our own consciousness (see Rom. 1:20, Eccl. 3:10). 
When the darkness is so thick that it can almost be felt, we long inexpressibly for light. When the emotions are so heavy we can barely stand them, we want support the most. When we are so hungry as to genuinely be starving, we need food all the more urgently.

As the son in Jesus’ story realized his dire need for his father when he bottomed out in life, we often realize the true extent of our need for God the Father when we are at our lowest points.

If that’s where you are, you should know that there is something better. There is a Father who will welcome you with open arms. And there is a whole family of His children at this place who will do the same! In the depths, look to the heights, and know that God can—and will—save!

- Dan Lankford, minister

There is a major difference between our God-given responsibility to "build one another up" (1 Thess. 5:11) and our presumed ambition to "keep somebody humble." The reality is that no human can truly make another human humble. We can humiliate someone, but that is not our scriptural responsibility. We can discourage someone, but neither is that our scriptural responsibility.

The scriptures put your responsibility for humility squarely in your lap. "Humble yourselves before the Lord," said the apostle James (4:10). So it is each one's job to keep himself humble in his attitude before God, and it is the each one's job to honor his brother in the Lord.

It is with this in mind that I would encourage you with a couple ways to show honor to the leaders of your church. 1 Timothy 5:7 says, "Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching." So here are five things that our shepherds need to hear from us on a regular basis—ways to show them the double honor of which they have proven themselves worthy.

1) I pray for you. The weight of responsibility God has given them is great. We all need to pray for them regularly, and they need to know that we're doing that.

2) I trust you. Humans have a tendency to distrust anyone in any position of authority, but this human tendency must be overcome within the church. Yes, they will make mistakes. But we need to trust that our shepherds' desires are only to do what is best for the church always.

3) I pray for your wife. She needs your prayers, too, and elders need to know that the members do not treat their wives as some group of “others,” but as dear sisters who need our prayers.

4) I think our future is bright. Elders are frequently hear from us about how things “used to be.” Many conversations with them begin with "back when we were..." And while that certainly has its place, the elders need to know that you think the congregation has a bright future by God's power. They need to know that we see the value of their vision to draw us closer to God.

5) Thank you. Long hours, heart-wrenching prayers, and sleepless nights are the parts of the work that most of us do not see. And yet, it is obvious that our Eastland shepherds give in these and many other ways. Let's be sure they know how grateful we are.

Obviously, our shepherds did not ask me to write this brief exhortation. These are some ideas I recently encountered and wished to pass along. I believe all of these ideas are eminently Biblical as they help us fulfill God's direct commandment to show honor to our leaders.

- Dan Lankford, minister

A psychology professor did a series of experiments in efforts to better understand typical human behavior in matters requiring integrity.

He began by conducting a non-scientific experiment in several dorms on a college campus. In the communal refrigerators of some of the dorms, he placed a six-pack of Coke. In other dorm fridges, he left a plate with six $1 bills on it. The Cokes and dollars were nearly equivalent in value, yet within 72 hours, all of the sodas had disappeared but none of the dollar bills had been touched. The students could have easily grabbed a buck and then used it to get a Coke at a nearby machine. But they didn’t. Why? Because taking a dollar – money in its raw form – feels like stealing, while taking a Coke – a step removed from the money – feels more okay. The professor, in his conclusions drawn from the experiment, compared this to the way many people wouldn’t think twice about taking a ream of paper from work, but wouldn’t dream of grabbing $3.50 from the office’s petty cash box.

He followed this informal trial with a whole series of more scientific trials (which you can read about in this article) which led him to determine that we are more likely to do something which is against our values (in Christians' cases, the truth of God's word) if there are more steps involved in the process between the commission of the act/sin and the consequences we believe we'll receive for it.

Does that land close to home for you? Are there things in your life that you know, "I shouldn't do that," but you find yourself doing it again and again because it seems the consequences are so far removed from the sin?

Solomon noted that this is common human tendency: "Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil." (Eccl. 8:11)  We have a real tendency to sacrifice our integrity when it seems it will cost us nothing to do so.

And yet, as disciples of Jesus, we must overcome this tendency. Because we understand that every sin does have immediate consequences—it breaks the heart of God and rejects the sacrifice of Christ (Heb. 10:29ff). He is aware of our every move and thought (Heb. 13:5), and he feels the sting of every sin. And as his children, we would do especially well to remember that there is an immediate reason to resist sin every time we possibly can. We would do well to remember that every decision—no matter how insignificant the theft of a soda may seem—matters before God our Maker and Judge.

Every decision is an opportunity to either hurt him and then justify ourselves... or to live for his glory, even when he alone will see it!

- Dan Lankford, minister

(A note of special thanks is due to my own father, Jarell Lankford, for his absolute integrity shown to us in all matters like this. For a long time, I couldn't understand why he NEVER used company vehicles for personal purposes, NEVER printed personal documents on the church copier, and NEVER kept someone's tools more than one day past its usefulness to him. I understand now. And I appreciate your example, dad.)

The title above is the definition of the word specious. It is a word which can be used to describe several common philosophies on life:

• A specious philosophy: “If you want to be happy in your marriage, you’re going to have to train—and usually demand—your spouse to give you what you need. You’ll have to be the boss.”
  • The Spirit says: “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord… Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” (Eph. 5:22, 25)
• A specious philosophy: “If you don’t hold onto every penny that you get, you’ll be broke and unhappy. Hoard all forms of wealth, and keep them all to yourself.”
  • The Spirit says (in a passage where he wasn’t only talking about church contributions): “whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor. 9:6-7)
• A specious philosophy: “People will know you’re a person of strong faith by the ways you mostly point out others’ mistakes in their attempts to live rightly before God.”
  • The Spirit says: “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father,” and “by this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Matt. 5:16 and John 13:35)

There could obviously many more of these contrasts. One of Satan's best tools is to make that which is obviously harmful appear to be a good idea. One of the many great blessings available to those who love God with the whole mind (Matt. 22:37) is the ability to understand the real problems of Satan's specious arguments and the real blessings of God's perfect plan!

- Dan Lankford, minister

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” 
(Eccl. 4:9-10)

We tend to think of relationships as a sort of recovery system for life. We frequently think about a husband who can be there to lift up his wife when she is down or of a great friend who can help balance out one’s own negative character traits. And based on the text above, that is a perfectly valid way to think of relationships—especially godly ones.

But let’s not forget the other side of the coin which is also talked about in this passage—“they have a good reward for their toil.”

Great relationships do not only help us when we are at a low ebb; they share the good with us when we are at a high point. Marriage is not only good because one spouse is strong while the other is weak; it is meant to be built on shared strength and shared joy. Truly great friendships do not only bring us up from our darkness; they celebrate and enjoy the light together. A church should not only be important to help me when I am weak; it is a relationship that is meant to be built on shared strength and shared joy.

Solomon continued his thought by saying, “if two lie together, they keep warm… though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him.” (Eccl. 4:11-12)  He saw the rewards of good relationships.

This little shift in our thinking can and should make some big changes in our relationships. When we are only thinking, “I need this relationship to fix me when I’m broken,” we will be much more likely to be selfish and demanding in the relationship. But when we think about making the other person’s life better whether they are “up” or “down,” then we will be able to give more to the relationship. And that is the best way to do it. That is the way Jesus did and does relationships. When both parties are working to give to the other, “they have a good reward for their toil.”

- Dan Lankford, minister

Our blind spots are almost always in places that are closest to us. When driving, your blind spots are right beside your car—close to you. When you hold a still infant, he’s often too close to your own eyes to determine if he’s asleep or awake without asking someone else. And in fact, you’ve never seen your own face directly. You’ve only seen pictures of yourself in mirrors and on cameras. You are blind to the part of yourself that is closest to your eyes. 

The same often happens in our view of spiritual things. The areas in which we see ourselves the least clearly are often those which are closest to us. Our family relationships—are we truly devoting ourselves to God in those relationships or are we blinded to our own attitudes and actions because we are emotionally close? With our money—are we truly devoting ourselves to God with it or are we blinded because we depend on it so much for happiness? Even with our eating habits—are we truly devoted to self-control for the glory of God or are we blinded to that ourselves because “that’s too personal to let religion meddle with it”?  (An older preacher told me about preaching a sermon on gluttony. Afterward, a congregant approached him and said, "Now you've quit preachin' and gone to meddlin'.")

This principle applies across humanity. We are more likely to be blind to our most dearly beloved assumptions about life. A deeply patriotic man may have difficulty keeping a clear perspective on Christ’s kingdom that is not of this world. A naturalistic man (one who believes nothing supernatural exists) will likely have difficulty seeing what is otherwise clear evidence of a Designer in this God-spoken world. It is these heart-deep assumptions that are the most difficult for us to clearly analyze.

It is my prayer, then, that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened to see ourselves more clearly in view of God’s glory. It should be the prayer of every Christian that we are willing to become vulnerable enough and to trust God enough to let his light into EVERY blind spot of our lives.

- Dan Lankford, minister