The United States of Richard: May 2011

Me and a friend of mine set up a system of accountability which hits us where it hurts when we sin. This is a specific particular sin, but for the sake of privacy, we will just call it "the sin".

So whenever, he or I "sin", we have to pay the other $50. Straight up. This is, by far, one of the most difficult choices I have ever made in my life.

Now, you may be appalled at the seemingly legalistic nature of this system, but I assure you, it is not.

It is peculiar. I had some concerns of course: "what if the $50 turns into some kind guilt money, so after we pay, we stop feeling guilty, which would lead to us freely sinning and then just paying the other without really letting it bother our conscience."

After doing it for two weeks, I found out that this was not the case.

Now, this is why this decision was the most difficult decision I've made in forever. This was the Gospel actually manifesting itself in my life. Not theoretical. Not academic. This was practical application of Scripture. This was my recognition and realization that God sent his very own son, Jesus Christ, to die the most horrendous death that I so love to talk about, for my sins. And this decision was a physical manifestation of my appreciation and act of worship to this God.

After being on this system for 3 weeks, we came to a fork in the road. We will not be seeing each other on a regular basis because I will be gone to Westminster and he will stay in Talbot. So we had to decide if we were going to continue this system of accountability or not. The thing is, we both knew that RIGHT when we called off the system of accountability, we would both sin, almost immediately. not a doubt in my mind. And I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY want to "sin". BUUTTTTTT, we ALSO know that the Godly, Christ-centered thing to do, is to keep the accountability system on and keep each other accountable.

So, we decided to keep it on, but my sinful self, the one whom I battle with everyday, regretted the decision immediately after it left my mouth.

So this is how I came to make the hardest decision in my life because my desire to "sin" is a strong strong desire.

So I leave you with this. Pray for myself to stay away from sin. That I keep the words of 1 Corinthians 9:27: "No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."

I hope I have that in context and if not, someone please correct me.