Exodus 33:5

For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’”

We have just encountered Resurrection Sunday where Jesus has taken onto Himself the sins of all mankind for all time. Our sin is no longer an obstacle to a relationship with God.

Here in Exodus 33, God is speaking to that generation of people He has just set free. They follow Him but why? If their intentions are to follow God for forty years in the wilderness why is it that only Joshua and Caleb got to enter into the Promise Land?

Ornaments are about appearance, the personality they want to portray to others. There are a number of reasons why people do that just as there was more than one reason only Joshua and Caleb were the only two entering into the Promise. Moses and Aaron failed God in different ways and were denied. It is reasonable to assume there were many masks those people hid behind.

The last sentence above only makes sense to us, the observers of His Word. God always knew the heart of the ungrateful, stubborn and proud people He denied access to His promise.

The lesson here more than God’s promises is to be real with God. No one likes a phony and whatever they have to say will be heard with a fair amount of doubt.

Here we are on this side of the Cross and the same can be said of this journey we take because of the promises God has made in Christ. If we haven’t seen some of those we should look within ourselves and see if we are being real with God.

Luke 20:46

“Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts,

Am I a scribe or a scribbler? A little of both if I am going to be honest with God and with you.

James 1:22-24 English Standard Version

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

The enemy of Christ reminds me of all the things I was guilty of doing. He will not let me forget.

That has not changed nor will it ever change. But I have changed and I remember thinking to myself, “How could I have done those things? I am not like that.” The simple answer is that I did not have Jesus in my heart back then.

Philippians 3:13-14

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

The enemy reminds me of my past in an attempt to make me look back in the same way Lot’s wife did, but the difference is that she looked back fondly, I do not. I carry those memories with me of a constant reminder that I do have Christ in my life and I look forward to what we will do together.

I modify Paul’s words slightly to fit my understanding, I did not make it on my own. The it in that sentence is this life with Christ. It is the life He is making for me and I could not have done it on my own.

Yes I have free will and I make choices in this life and I think of that as free to make my own mistakes. Yes, I make mistakes. That is more a matter of still being human and seeing myself as being accountable. I am not alone on this journey and I am still father, grandfather, husband and friend. Those are all different roles with different personalities, problems and needs.

Jesus wouldn’t have it any other way. I can still be His, do His will, and be accountable to others.

Accountability is one of those words that keeps popping up from time to time. It is much different than all those biblical terms like salvation, justification, forgiveness, transfiguration, justice, mercy and grace.

Who do we have in our lives that we can trust with our most innermost thoughts? It will be someone that has proven themselves to be trustworthy and loyal. Jesus is focused on the Father’s plans for me and while He loves me, he also knows my human side and that I need to hear a human voice. Hearing by faith does not satisfy our human need to hear and be heard.

To my accountability partner, thank you.