James 5:13-16

There are plenty of biblical directives about making ourselves accountable to one another. But for many, the idea of revealing personal information seems restrictive or even an invasion of privacy. Such confession seems a hindrance to the pursuit of pleasure, prosperity, and prestige. Most people prefer to keep to themselves and not involve others in their business.

The Bible, however, makes it clear that Christians are to support each other in this regard: “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed” (James 5:16).

Accountability in the body of Christ is a biblical principle. Church members take direction from their pastor (Heb. 13:17). Paul tells us to be subject one to another (Eph. 5:21). Yet he was answerable to the church (Acts 14:27), just as Timothy was subordinate to him (1 Tim. 4:13-16). The apostles were certainly under the authority of Jesus (Luke 10), even as Jesus was subject to the Father (John 8:28-29). Of course, the Bible tells us that the whole church is obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:24). Regardless of one’s position, everybody is accountable to somebody. And this holds true for the entire family of faith–from the congregation to the ministers to Jesus Himself, who served God the Father.

People avoid accountability for various reasons, including pride, ignorance, fear, and self-reliance. This is a dangerous approach to life. Our Enemy knows our weaknesses and how to exploit them. But we can prevail with the support of friends. There is strength in the body of Christ.

In the early fourteenth century, Geoffrey Chaucer penned The Canterbury Tales, a sometimes bawdy, often hilarious, and always sharply critical satire on the religious folk of his day. The “tales” of the pilgrims make up the content of the story. Despite their common path of pilgrimage to Canterbury, Chaucer’s Christian characters are largely examples of the corruption and dissolute living that had overtaken virtue in the church of his time. However, in the case of “The Parson’s Tale,” Chaucer gives us an extended prose narrative intended to instruct the pilgrims in Christian morality. This tale, by contrast, represented the kind of Christianity Chaucer espoused, and so he gives the Parson the last word.(1)

 The Parson’s Tale presents a theological treatise on repentance and how to overcome the “seven deadly sins” with the virtues of the spiritual life. In particular, the parson offers magnanimity as the virtue to combat the vice of acedia. Acedia was considered one of the most serious of sins. It manifested itself in spiritual despair, and more significantly embodied the temptation to give up caring about anything truly important. The early Christian monastics believed that acedia led to spiritual impotence and smallness of heart. Spiritual impotence would allow vice to flourish and virtue to languish, not because vice was purposely chosen or intentionally entered into, but because spiritual lassitude desiccated one’s concern to be virtuous. 

 Is it any different in our own day? Despair distracts many spiritual pilgrims from finding their way, and maybe even some Christian pilgrims from following the way of Jesus. Author Kathleen Norris warns that acedia “is known to foster excessive self-justification, as well as a casual yet implacable judgmentalism toward others,” and readily lends itself to this process of spiritual apathy.(2) 

 Magnanimity, by contrast, is found in a person who is generous of spirit, caring, and gracious in forgiveness. Chaucer, through the voice of the Parson, warns that “a great heart is needed against acedia, lest it swallow up the soul.” A great heart is a magnanimous heart full of generosity and graciousness, eager to forgive. Acedia, on the other hand, makes hearts small, consumed not with care for the things God cares for, but devoured by things that do not matter at all. 

 Acedia further makes it easy for me to pluck the speck out of my sister’s eye while I ignore the log in my own. This propensity to see others as the primary problem, while elevating one’s own self is a clear sign that acedia has taken root in one’s life. On the contrary, magnanimity, as Norris notes, “requires creativity to recognize our faults, and to discern virtues in those we would rather disdain. Forgiveness demands close attention, flexibility, and stringent self-assessment, faculties that are hard to come by as we careen blindly into the twenty-first century, and are increasingly asked to choose information over knowledge, theory over experience, and certainty over ambiguity.”(3) 

 Like the Parson’s Tale, Jesus shared many tales; parables regarding the virtuous life. Jesus was inviting those who heard his story to respond by living a kingdom-life here and now. When invited to the house of a Pharisee one evening, a woman who was known to be a sinner entered the house and wept at Jesus’s feet, anointing them with her tears and perfume, and wiping his feet with her hair. But in Jesus’s day, a man would not allow a woman to touch him, let alone a woman who was a known sinner. The Pharisee who invited Jesus knew this, and he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet he would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching him” (Luke 7:39). Jesus then tells the tale of two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty. Which of them, Jesus asks, when forgiven their debt, would love the moneylender more? The Pharisee replies that the one who owed more would love more. Jesus then delivers the last line of the tale: “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little” (Luke 7:47). 

 Jesus understood how magnanimity pushed beyond a small, acedic heart. There will always be idle pilgrims on the way to vacant Canterburys missing the true heart of the pilgrimage. But those who respond to the tale as told by Jesus find their hearts opened and enlarged, discovering on the way that the pilgrimage of magnanimity has pointed toward home in the Kingdom.

 Margaret Manning is a member of the speaking and writing team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Seattle, Washington. 

 (1) Ed. Larry Benson, “Explanatory Notes,” in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Riverside Chaucer, Third Edition, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), 956.
(2) Kathleen Norris, Acedia and Me (New York: Penguin, 2008), 116.
(3) Ibid.

Morning   “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” / Galatians 5:25

The two most important things in our holy religion are the life of faith and
the walk of faith. He who shall rightly understand these is not far from being
a master in experimental theology, for they are vital points to a Christian.
You will never find true faith unattended by true godliness; on the other
hand, you will never discover a truly holy life which has not for its root a
living faith upon the righteousness of Christ. Woe unto those who seek after
the one without the other! There are some who cultivate faith and forget
holiness; these may be very high in orthodoxy, but they shall be very deep in
condemnation, for they hold the truth in unrighteousness; and there are others
who have strained after holiness of life, but have denied the faith, like the
Pharisees of old, of whom the Master said, they were “whitewashed sepulchres.”
We must have faith, for this is the foundation; we must have holiness of life,
for this is the superstructure. Of what service is the mere foundation of a
building to a man in the day of tempest? Can he hide himself therein? He wants
a house to cover him, as well as a foundation for that house. Even so we need
the superstructure of spiritual life if we would have comfort in the day of
doubt. But seek not a holy life without faith, for that would be to erect a
house which can afford no permanent shelter, because it has no foundation on a
rock. Let faith and life be put together, and, like the two abutments of an
arch, they will make our piety enduring. Like light and heat streaming from
the same sun, they are alike full of blessing. Like the two pillars of the
temple, they are for glory and for beauty. They are two streams from the
fountain of grace; two lamps lit with holy fire; two olive trees watered by
heavenly care. O Lord, give us this day life within, and it will reveal itself
without to thy glory.

Evening “And they follow me.” / John 10:27

We should follow our Lord as unhesitatingly as sheep follow their shepherd,
for he has a right to lead us wherever he pleases. We are not our own, we are
bought with a price–let us recognize the rights of the redeeming blood. The
soldier follows his captain, the servant obeys his master, much more must we
follow our Redeemer, to whom we are a purchased possession. We are not true to
our profession of being Christians, if we question the bidding of our Leader
and Commander. Submission is our duty, cavilling is our folly. Often might our
Lord say to us as to Peter, “What is that to thee? Follow thou me.” Wherever
Jesus may lead us, he goes before us. If we know not where we go, we know with
whom we go. With such a companion, who will dread the perils of the road? The
journey may be long, but his everlasting arms will carry us to the end. The
presence of Jesus is the assurance of eternal salvation, because he lives, we
shall live also. We should follow Christ in simplicity and faith, because the
paths in which he leads us all end in glory and immortality. It is true they
may not be smooth paths–they may be covered with sharp flinty trials, but
they lead to the “city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is
God.” “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his
covenant.” Let us put full trust in our Leader, since we know that, come
prosperity or adversity, sickness or health, popularity or contempt, his
purpose shall be worked out, and that purpose shall be pure, unmingled good to
every heir of mercy. We shall find it sweet to go up the bleak side of the
hill with Christ; and when rain and snow blow into our faces, his dear love
will make us far more blest than those who sit at home and warm their hands at
the world’s fire. To the top of Amana, to the dens of lions, or to the hills
of leopards, we will follow our Beloved. Precious Jesus, draw us, and we will
run after thee.

And they follow me.   John 10:27

 We should follow our Lord as unhesitatingly as sheep follow their shepherd, for He has a right to lead us wherever He pleases. We are not our own, we are bought with a price—let us recognize the rights of the redeeming blood. The soldier follows his captain, the servant obeys his master, and so we must follow our Redeemer, to whom we are a purchased possession. We are not true to our profession of being Christians if we question the summons of our Leader and Commander.

Submission is our duty; quibbling is our folly. Our Lord may say to us what he said to Peter, “What is that to you? You follow Me!”1 Wherever Jesus may lead us, He goes before us. If we do not know where we go, we know with whom we go. With such a companion, who will dread the dangers of the journey? The road may be long, but His everlasting arms will carry us to the end. The presence of Jesus is the assurance of eternal salvation; because He lives, we will live also. We should follow Christ in simplicity and faith, because the paths in which He leads us all end in glory and immortality. It is true that they may not be smooth paths—they may be covered with sharp, flinty trials; but they lead to “the city that has foundations, whose designer and maker is God.”2 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to those who keep His covenant.

Let us put our complete trust in our Leader, since we know that in prosperity or adversity, sickness or health, popularity or contempt, His purpose will be worked out, and that purpose will be pure, unmingled good to every heir of mercy. We will find it sweet to go up the bleak side of the hill with Christ; and when rain and snow blow into our faces, His dear love will make us far more blessed than those who sit at home and warm their hands at the world’s fire. When Jesus draws us, we will run after Him. No matter where He leads us, we follow the Shepherd.

1John 21:22 2Hebrews 11:10

Family Reading Plan  Ezekiel 21  Psalm 68