You may want to read 2 Samuel 7 and 2 Samuel 11-12:15 before going on.
In recent years there has been a big push within parts of the Christian church for men to have "accountability partners". These are people who you trust that are aware of your personal struggles with sin and temptation. These people check with you regularly to see how you are doing and to insure that you are not giving in to temptations and making poor choices. Your accountability partner is someone who you can be, in fact have to be, completely honest with. The idea behind this approach was to encourage men to help each other remain faithful disciples in a day and age where temptations, especially in the areas of lust, can be as close as a click of the computer mouse.
I have always thought that this kind of relationship can be very helpful. I still do. However, I think Sweet makes a very interesting observation on p. 34 of "11" when he says, "Accountability is designed to prevent you from doing bad. Editability is designed to help you do good." Certainly we need to resist temptation, and that requires a lot of help. However, are we as Christians as quick to help someone else do good? The call of discipleship is not just to run away from sin, but to "go into all the world and preach the gospel." Sweet points out that we need people who help us find our voice to preach with. That is an editor's job: not just to point out mistakes for the purpose of finger-pointing, but to point out errors to help an author's voice be clearer and more powerful. The editor may tell the author what to think about, but not what to think.
Sweet uses the example of Nathan the prophet. When David decides he wants to build a permanent home for the ark of the covenant, God uses Nathan to correct David's thinking and to lead David to a place of worship and awe of who God is and what God has done and will do. When David finds himself involved in adultery, God uses Nathan to point out David's sin and bring him to confession and repentance. Why? Well, could Scripture consider David "a man after God's own heart" if Nathan had not brought David to an understanding of his sin? Nathan was David's editor.
Read the passages from 2 Samuel about Nathan. What characteristics do you see in Nathan that are important for someone who is going to help you find your voice to preach the gospel?
What do you learn about God from how he calls and uses Nathan in David's life?
Can someone who is an accountability partner also be an editor for your life?
We live in a culture that sometimes espouses an attitude of "Don't tell me what I can or can't do." How do you think a Nathan fits into a world or relationship where this kind of attitude exists? How does Nathan's dealing with David in the Bathsheba incident perhaps give guidance for how to be a Nathan when someone does not want to be told they are wrong?
Is it enough to just point out what someone is doing wrong, or does a Nathan need to also provide answers?
Perhaps the reason why we all most need a Nathan in our lives is because Nathans remind us that we all have limitations which can impede our service to God and one another. What are your limitations? Do we prosper by those very limitations under which we live? Why or why not?
Feel free to share your thoughts on these or any other issues raised by chapter 1 of Sweet's book. Simply click on the comments button below this article.
- Mark
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An accountability partner is usually someone you turn to for direction before you make a choice. An editor is someone that can help you struggle for direction after you have made a choice. In my opinion Nathan was David's accountability partner in 2 Samuel when David shared his wish to build God a house. Nathan advised David to go ahead and do what was in his heart. David's wish sounded good. However, we read later in the Scripture that God's will was not for David to build Him a house; instead, God was going to build David a house. I think Nathan was David's editor in 2 Samuel 11-12 by creating a struggle for David after he had made an unhealthy choice. Nathan approached David in a way that made him look honestly at himself.
Both the role of accountability partner and editor needs to be someone you respect, trust, feel unconditional love from, and can be your true self with. I think an accountability partner can also be your editor even though there is a slight difference in the roles. The person needs God’s guidance to which role is fitting for a given situation. I do think the term editor seems to be more appealing to us today as it denotes a more authoritative person. As Leonard Sweet said about his editor, Ron Lee, “He often told me what to think about, but never what to think.” Sometimes an accountability partner can be more authoritarian.
Nathan was a prophet, a human instrument that God used to declare His message. We all need a Nathan in our life. Someone who challenges us to higher moral conduct and encourages us to live righteously.
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