Accountability plays a central role in reconciliation. If we look at the foundational underpinnings of any Christian life, we there find repentance – a persistent and empowering expression of individual accountability. Accountability serves as a powerful antidote to assuming the role of victim and blaming everyone but oneself. In the archetypal Parable of the Lost Son, the son rebelled against all that his father had taught him while at home...except for one lesson of abiding value. If he had not learned well the lesson of accountability, he would not have returned in repentance but instead would have cried out curses to his father from the pigpen. On his return home, effective reconciliation was actualized due to the father's adherence to the values of charity and forgiveness. Thus, a mutuality in accountability was struck based upon abstract but essential spiritual values.
Print Page
