strength in numbers | aspen rainbow | msn678

I have been meeting with guys for decades now.

In each of my various moves (three states in the last twenty five years) I have sought out men for an accountability group—usually 2 or 3 men. We meet weekly, look at some scripture, talk about our lives, and pray for each other. There is no magic program or formula.

Eventually we get around to two deeper things. First, we get to the point where we ask the others in the group to hold us accountable for something(s) specific—often a sinful pattern we want to break. Mind you, this isn’t something necessarily that the group says, “You must do to be spiritual.”  This is something we voluntarily submit to the group.

The second thing that often happens is that the guys feel freer to speak up and point out things in each other’s lives that need some attention. As hard as this is, it is also very welcome. It means we love each other, trust each other, and want to watch each others’ back.

Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it.
— Psalm 141:5

David knew the benefit of this kind of relationship. He had apparently received a strike from a righteous man (makes me curious as to what it was). David was very fortunate. It came his way through the grid of kindness.

The result? It was actually soothing.

Yet David recognizes we will have a tendency to back away. I have never found accountability to others easy; just a HUGE growth opportunity.

I’m in a new situation now and beginning to form new relationships. I meet with a small group as well as with several men one-on-one. We have yet to get to these deeper levels because, in my experience, it takes time.

David’s request is a wonderful reminder to me to value the exhortations, rebukes and reproofs that come my way. “Let a righteous man strike me…My head will not refuse it.”

O LORD, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you.  ² May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.  ³ Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips.  ⁴ Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil, to take part in wicked deeds with men who are evildoers; let me not eat of their delicacies.  ⁵ Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it. Yet my prayer is ever against the deeds of evildoers;  ⁶ their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs, and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken.  ⁷ [They will say,] “As one plows and breaks up the earth, so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave.”  ⁸ But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge—do not give me over to death.  ⁹ Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, from the traps set by evildoers.  ¹⁰ Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by in safety.
— Psalm 141

Howard Morrison is a partner in Gilbert, Arizona’s Morrison Ranch (where one of his nicknames is Bias for Action). In addition to being an active second-generation partner in the the family owned business, Howard identifies himself as a pastor (in a previous life), a husband, and the glad father of three.