Alcoholics and drug addicts check in with their sponsors. They must be accountable to someone to keep them on track. Accountability means taking responsibility for your actions, often avoiding doing the things you know are wrong. In fact, the Bible speaks in many places about that very thing. But what about being accountable for not doing the things you know you should?
Accountable for Our Talents
Take the story that Jesus told in Matthew 25:15 that epitomizes what God expects of His followers. In this story, three men were given talents from their master. Each one received a different amount based on his abilities. The master then immediately left on a journey. When he returned, he called the three men to be accountable for what he had given them. Two of them said they had doubled the amounts they were given, and they were praised for their efforts. The third one hid his talent and was reprimanded. The talent was taken from him and given to the one with five.
Now, none of the men had squandered the talents given to them. In fact, you could say that the third man was frugal by saving the one talent he had. So, why was the master so upset by his non-action? And are we as accountable for the things we fail to do that we should as we are for the things we should avoid?
The Moral of the Story
While many people focus on the obvious in the fact that we are to use the talents and riches that God has given us in a way that increases them for His kingdom, there is another lesson to be learned here. It is about how we use these talents. Further on in the same chapter, Jesus talks about giving food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, and clothing to those who are naked. He also includes those that are sick and in prison and need visitors. He compared those actions that we would do to the needy we see around us as doing it to Him.
Stop and think about that for a moment. When you turn your face from the homeless man begging on the street, you are turning it away from Jesus. When you see the woman on the street corner or the drug addict in the dark alley, do you move to the other side of the street or do you see someone created in the image of God? Yes, we often think about how our good deeds are gifts to God, but do we think about neglecting and ignoring Him when we forego the opportunity? If we saw the face of Jesus in every haunted, hopeless, despondent, hungry face that we pass by, would we have a different response?
