Daily Devotional For November 28, 2025
And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before the throne. Books were opened, and another book was opened, the Book of Life. The dead were judged on the basis of the things written in the books, according to their works. Rev 20:11-12.
This scene is quite scary on the face of it. Everyone on earth, great and small, white and black, rich and poor, will one day be called to account. Nothing is ultimately done in secret, all things will one day come out into the open. This is a powerful incentive to right living.
What we are talking about here is accountability. Accountability means allowing others to help you keep watch over yourself. It means never having to face your problems alone. Someone else is there to encourage you and to help keep you straight. God is constantly available for this purpose. But for many people, accountability to God isn’t incentive enough. They need a real, flesh and blood person watching over them.1
Accountability can take many forms. One form is a sharing group, like Alcoholics Anonymous, where everybody is required to tell the truth and is accepted in their telling of it. A fascinating thing happens in a group like that. As you learn to share your faults and struggles openly, you begin to find strength to deal with issues you were unwilling to face before. Knowing that you will give account to the group provides a check against your natural laziness or immoral behavior. Accountability is a great motivator to right living.
Here is a suggestion for the few and the brave. Do you have a hard-nosed friend? Someone you trust, who loves you and cares deeply about you? Someone who would never want to see you hurt? Go to this friend and share with him or her your desire to make changes in your life. Tell this friend that you will be completely honest and that you expect honesty in return.
That is scary, isn’t it? Well, I couldn’t live without it. I have three close friends in addition to my wife (one is a white American, one is an African-American, and the third is Hispanic). I know that these three men love me. I trust in their love. I have given them the right to confront me about my faults any time they see something negative. Whenever we get together, we have accountability sessions. We go out to eat or take a long walk and open up the deepest recesses of our hearts to each other.
The Bible says, “Nothing is so precious as the wounds of a friend.” And no friend is so true as the one who loves enough to tell the truth.
Lord, I want to be accountable to You in all things. Use my friends to keep me focused on Your purpose for my life.
1 See Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages , 297.