Accountability partner for Godward Toil?

The Bible encourages Christians to confess, pray, and encourage one another.  Every wise brother or spiritual mentor I have known has always emphasized the importance of spiritual accountability.  Proverbs 27:17 puts it this way, "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another."   For me, accountability is a concept that is inextricably bound up in my experience as a Christian--I don't think I even really heard people talk in terms of "accountability" or "accountability partners" until I started to hang out with Christian believers in my mid-twenties.

If we believe that stewarding time and energy wisely is important, should we pursue accountability in our personal productivity as well?   Matt Cornell has a detailed and helpful post on a two-week experiment in which he incorporated daily accountability into his quest for a productive work day.   Warning:  Matt's post definitely falls into the category of "advanced productivity."  If you're just starting to think about getting an inbox or filing your papers, this post may not be the best starting place.   Nevertheless, accountability might be an important starting point for anyone.  If you want to be more fruitful and and less wasteful for God, why not mention that to a friend and ask him or her to pray for you?

Comments

[TonyP]

Thanks, Matt. Good point about keeping it simple...and concrete. "How are you doing with your productivity?" is a different, more diffuse level than "I'm doing this now and call you in a hour" as you suggest.

[Matthew Cornell]

Thanks for the stimulating perspective - made me think! Also, thanks for the link - glad you found it helpful. As a starting point, getting accountability is helpful, something as simple as "I'm starting emptying my inbox - I'll call you in an hour and I'll be done." Or maybe a study group?

Cheers!