Is there something in your life you want to change? Something about you, you want to be different? Maybe there is something you have wanted to change for a very long time and you just can’t seem to get on top of it – yes?
The question is: how badly do we want to change? What are we willing to do to create the change?
I have certainly had my fair share of issues I wanted to change over the course of my 50+ years. I have learned a little something about change I want to share with you now, but let me begin with a story…
Have you ever tried to lose weight? Simple, right? Eat less, move more. A while back I bumped into a man I knew many years ago – way back then he was a very large man. When I bumped into him I almost didn’t recognize him because he had lost so much weight. I asked him how he did it:
“I eat less and move more.”
Simple, but not easy.
I was always naturally slim. As ‘soma-types” go I was a “meso-ectomorph” – a muscular slim guy. However, too much travel and ‘the good life’ had turned me into an “endo-ectomorph” – a fat slim guy. If there is such a thing.
Anne and my sons had been on me to do something about my weight and to start exercising, but I just wasn’t that interested. At least, not until I hit 205. I was 165 when we first got married. I realized something needed to be done…
So, I contacted my brother, who is my pastor, and asked him if I could be accountable to him for my eating and moving objectives. I put together a daily spreadsheet of the extra ‘moving’ I wanted to do, my weight objective, and some other behaviors I wanted to stay committed to.
This was what I would call “accountability”. I was ‘initiating’ accountability with Ron to help me stay on track. Here is the key to accountability working well to create change:
It must be self-initiated, not imposed by another.
Here is what I mean by that: the accountability must be something you are initiating. It must be something you are committing to follow through on. It must be something you will be checking in with a trusted friend on. The accountability must be your responsibility.
If accountability is imposed, if it is something you are expecting someone else to provide or to take the responsibility for, it will not be the catalyst for change that self-initiated accountability is. When we create self-initiated accountability with those we trust it is because we want to create change, we realize we need help to create that change, and we are willing to humble ourselves to do so.
When we humble ourselves the Lord pours out His grace. When we are working from within the Lord’s grace, a change in behaviour becomes far easier because He changes our hearts. He actually changes our desires.
In regard to my move more/eat less accountability, I saw something remarkable: the Lord actually changed my desires. His grace enabled me to want to move more, and I began to want to eat differently. All the foods I formerly loved and in which I would over indulge, were not as attractive as they once were. The exercise I formerly did not relish became something I actually want to do.
My program simply involves vigorous, rigorous prayer walks down the mountainside from our house to the lake and back up again. I eat the same breakfast shake every day comprised of water, fruit, nuts, grains and protein powder. And, I do some supplemental exercises and other activities. I have lost 15 pounds over the last 6 months and have 5-10 more to go.
And, I love it.
However, the point is, self-initiated accountability is the key to creating change. When we humble ourselves and willingly submit to someone who can monitor the behavior we want to engage in, the grace of God is evident to change our desires and enable us to become who we desire to be.
So, what do you want to change? To whom will you be accountable?
1 Peter 5:5,6
“In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
Philippians 2:13
“…for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”