Part 1.. The Night Before SKIN

If you read my last post, you know that my accountability group failed one of our men.  We didn’t keep up with him and let him fall away from the group resulting in him falling back into the sin of his old life.  I didn’t mention this before, but he was just baptized on Good Friday.  When you make a stand like that, Satan counter attacks with the strongest temptations he can muster up, and we weren’t there for him.

SKIN (my accountability group) meets weekly on Tuesday mornings.  Tomorrow we are going to get real about why/how we let our brother fall.  When it all gets boiled down, we were so focused on the petty issues that a couple guys have with each other that we missed what was going on in the lives of every other guy there.  Often times it felt like we were in middle school again talking about ‘who likes who’ and ‘he said she said’ crap.

It’s time to grow up.  I personally don’t understand why people hold on to petty issues and drag them out until they ruin relationships.  Some people act as if life is one big soap opera.  I hope that if I act like that someone will call me on it right away and I pray that I would have the wisdom to listen to them.  I don’t want to be a shallow Christian like the ones Paul wrote to in Corinth.

When you look at the writings of Paul, you find that he calls people out on their petty crap.  In 1 Corinthians 3.1-3, he says that they are too immature for any deep spiritual truth because of their jealousy and quarreling (they were still worldly, living their old lives).  In Colossians 3.5-17 and Ephesians 4.22-32, he writes about putting off your old self and forgiving others in love just as Christ forgave us.

When we are immature, we have blinders up to what is around us and our ears are blocked from hearing the truth that is being spoken to us.  We fall into (or never actually get out of) our old ways of life.  As a result I think we often act like the wicked, lazy servant in Matthew 25:18, burying the treasure we have been given.

What does a non-Christian think when they see “Christians” acting like children, fighting with each other?

Part 2.. In Reflection of This Morning

There is still a lot of work to be done in SKIN.  What was once petty issues has become full blown problems.  The following questions are a way to start to scraping away all the crap and get real again.

1. Have you been with a woman in any way this week that was inappropriate or in a way that could have looked to others like you were using poor judgment?
2. Have you been completely above reproach in all your financial dealings this week?
3. Have you exposed yourself to any explicit materials this week?
4. Have you spent daily time in prayer and in the Word this week?
5. Have you fulfilled the mandate of your calling this week?
6. Have you spent quality and quantity time with your family this week?
7. How did you do in your personal high-risk areas this week?
8. Do you have any un-confessed sin in your life?
9. Have you just lied to me?

Some of these questions may have sparked something in our brother’s mind as he was dealing with temptation.  It has to start with honesty though.  We are getting back to these questions as a group, answering with complete honesty, maturing in Spirit and in Truth.  If you are not asking yourself and those who you keep accountable these questions, I ask you why not?  By asking these questions, petty issues are caught before they become huge problems.  Put off your old self and forgive each other in love as Christ forgave you.  It’s tough to forgive when you are still living your old life.  It takes Christ’s love in you find the real meaning of forgiveness.