DAILY HOPE DEVOTIONALS: DECEMBER 4 SELF EVALUATION (2) SCRIPTURE: GALATIANS 6: 3 – 4
In the secular world, self-evaluation involves “a procedure to systematically observe, analyze and value your own professional action and its results in other to stabilize or improve it.” In the world view, self-evaluation can take place on an individual or an organizational level. Major exercise of self-evaluation aims at finding ways for improvement or adjusting on going actions. Like an establishment that takes stocks of their financial records to finding whether it gained or lost, individuals can take inventories of what is lost or gained through the passage of time so as to stabilize or improves his/her actions. The best month to do this ought to be December of every year. Christians can look into their records of life, things achieved, gained or wasted so as to stabilize their actions in the upcoming January. In doing this the exercise should be done through accessing self positively.
It is really unfortunate that many people prefer self-deception by nature to self-evaluation. Self-deception includes thinking self, better than others. Self-evaluation is an important part of living as an authentic Christian person. One ways we human adopt self-deception is comparing ourselves with others around us. Christians are to desist from this habit. We can never be who others be. We all are uniquely created with individual skills, talents, gifts and so on. Instead of valuing the gifts, skills, and achievements in others to the extent of dampening our zeal to life, we are to look inwards ourselves by evaluation to see what we are made of positively. The lead text addressed this by saying “If anyone thinks is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let him test his own work…” (Gal. 6: 3 ESV). The “let him test his own work” can be taken for “evaluate himself”.
As Christians, we are enjoined to always prove our own works and find it possible to rejoice in ourselves. Self-evaluation as said before helps us to be happy with whom we are; and handle our works with contented spirit. Thinking ourselves of not being somebody like others is unchristian attitude. Likewise, running after the fame of others is another self-deception. We Christians must balance our attitudes by constantly evaluating ourselves, drop those things drawing us back and improve on things we were doing before that gave recognitions. What good this does for us is renewing our elated Spirit of doing more good things as well as enabling us to be grateful to God. We can do this in this December for a better coming year. God bless you, the beloved.
PRAYER:
Pray and invite the Holy Spirit into you and ask Him to show you the better side of your life, gifts, skills and talents. Ask the Holy Spirit to enable you to show gratitude to God over your findings in Jesus name.
bishopubaudenyi@hopealivechurch