A Prayer For Accountability

A prayer for Accountability - Taking responsibility

ALMIGHTY GOD,

“Passing the buck,” “looking for a scapegoat,” and similar expressions betray a recurring tendency. We don’t like to take responsibility for our actions, to admit we made a mistake, are wrong, or have sinned. Even when the evidence is clear, we create excuses and blame circumstances or someone else. I can spot it in others—but I hate it in me. I’m sure today I’ll fight the urge to do it again. But I have to come clean with you: I messed up yesterday. What I did was wrong, and I confess. I have only myself to blame. I know you forgive me, Lord, but I want to clear the air and make sure nothing stands between us. I also want to remove the barrier between the other person and me. Regardless of what precipitated my actions, I am responsible for them. Help me to admit that today and to ask for forgiveness.

“Who told you that you were naked?” the LORD God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” Then the LORD God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” Genesis 3:11-13