What happens when there is no accountability?

Judges 17:6All the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

Genesis 16:6Abram replied, “Look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.

Isaiah 47:8“Listen to this, you pleasure-loving kingdom, living at ease and feeling secure. You say, ‘I am the only one, and there is no other. I will never be a widow or lose my children.’”

Left unaccountable, we will always lean toward sin, the consequences of which eventually draw us away from God and cause suffering for us and others.

1 Samuel 13:11-13Saul replied, “I saw . . . you didn’t arrive when you said you would . . So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering myself before you came.” “How foolish!” Samuel exclaimed. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. Had you kept it, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.”

Acts 18:24-26Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt. He had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he knew only about John’s baptism. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching boldly in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately.

Even those trying to do good need accountability. Sometimes our own good intentions can be sabotaged by wrong information or even by our enthusiasm.