“When Will I No Longer Need Accountability?”

The short answer is when you are in heaven.

The real question should be: why do I need accountability? If I can really understand why I need accountability, then the “when will I no longer need accountability” will answer itself.

Everybody needs to have accountability on an ongoing basis because of three very powerful and true realities.

3 Reasons We Need Ongoing Accountability

Because of Our Sinful Nature

First, we all need accountability because of something that dwells inside of our body. There is this part of us that the Bible calls our flesh or sinful nature. We are born with it. It begins to appear around the age of 2 when our beautiful babies begin to say words like “no” and “mine.” Did anyone intentionally teach us to be selfish and rebellious during the first 24 months of our lives? Nope, it was just in there waiting to be expressed.

Paul teaches us in Galatians 5:16-17, “So, I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.”

James says in James 1:13-14, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.”

Yes, we are “new creations” in Christ. Old things have passed away and new things have come. However, the flesh remains in us which is why we struggle so much with sexual temptations. We will struggle the rest of our lives battling our flesh because it is evil to the core and does not become transformed by the power of the Spirit. He can hold the flesh at bay and we are commanded by Paul in Romans 8 to put to death the deeds of the flesh.

Because Temptation Surrounds Us

Second, we all need accountability because of where we live. We live in a fallen world which is always gleeful to offer us sexual sin of every kind. God has wired us to be sexual beings within the relationship of a marriage to our spouse. The gift of sexual intimacy can be a strong bond within marriage and a wonderful thing to experience.

However, our brain and body can still experience the thrilling pleasures of the sexual experience with anyone. It does not differentiate between sharing sexual intimacy with our spouse, with someone else, with an image or just a fantasy.

Now, our incredible technology has enabled us to be able to see hard-core porn or find other people we can hook up with in a matter of seconds using our smartphones. This means that I am never more than a few clicks away from the ability to feed my sinful flesh with sexual images or ideas and act out with this almost anywhere and at any time.

Related: Porn–A Gateway Drug

If I could pull up an image of cocaine on my phone and literally snort it into my nose or pull up a glass of scotch and literally drink it whenever and wherever I want, then I would probably be a drug addict and or an alcoholic. Someone might notice that my behavior was being drug or alcohol influenced by my slurred speech or smell of alcohol on my breath. However, give me five minutes in a bathroom with my smartphone and I can get my fix and appear completely normal to all around me. The only tell-tale signs being what I have not deleted from my history.

Because Our Enemy Wants to Destroy Us

Third, I need accountability because I have a real enemy who wants to destroy me.  In 1 Peter 5:8-9, we read, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

Whether you want to admit it or not there is a very powerful evil force that wants to destroy everything good in your life. Jesus called him the liar because lying is his native language and he comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

Related: Destroying Porn Addiction Starts with Destroying Shame

Accountability Will Help You Win the Battle

We have all been foolish to sample sexual sin. It has become for us a highly addictive behavior which uses shame to drive us into isolation. We fear telling anyone and so keep trying to fight this battle that we ourselves cannot win, but cannot afford to lose.

So, we have an enemy within, an enemy without and we live behind enemy lines. When we die our body, with the flesh we have dies, we are taken to heaven, where no evil exists, and we will be completely healed of sexual brokenness and given a new body that will never, ever sin again.

Until that time, you and I need accountability and support every day. In order to provide that for people, we at 180 Ministries have begun Online Support Teams. We meet online so that geography does not remain an issue. We go through a 25 video teaching series that I have written which is biblical, practical, and effective.

The members of each team watch the videos beforehand using the companion workbook, then we discuss the material, hold each other accountable, and pray for each other. Then every member of that Online Support Team stays in touch with each other daily through texting so that none of us ever has to be alone again.

We have nine Online Support Teams actively helping one another and they are working better than I could have imagined. There is even one for women who have a sexual addiction. If you want more information, simply email me and I can explain it more to you.  You can even sit in on a group to see if it would work for you.