Since Hurricane Katrina, people have been talking a lot about accountability, or if the finger is pointing toward you rather than away, about blame. Some have said that we are witnessing standard bureaucratic incompetence--lack of foresight, under-planning, poor coordination of efforts, misspent funds, and so on.

Others question whether the response to Katrina would have been much different--faster, more efficient, more urgent--if her victims had been the very rich rather than the very poor. Even more troubling is the question of what role racism played and is playing in the disaster relief.

Few solid answers seem obvious to all of these questions and "what if's," but perhaps it would be helpful to examine some principles about accountability from the teachings of Him before Whom we all will stand one day to give account (2 Cor. 5:10).

In the Parable of the Sheep and Goats (Matt. 25:31