Have you ever been sitting in a church service listening to the sermon and think to yourself, “Man, I wish (fill in the blank) was here this morning to hear this”? Or maybe you read something in a book, a devotional, or out of the Bible, and think, “(Fill in the blank) needs to read this, I will forward this to them”. Why is it so much easier to evaluate another’s life rather than our own? In this passage, the apostle Paul makes it very clear that we need to be honest in our evaluation of ourselves. In the Old Testament, David requested in the Psalms that God would search him and know his heart. An honest, thorough evaluation of our lives is an important task Christians should practice often.
In the same way, ministry leaders should regularly take part in an honest evaluation of their ministry. What is working well? What is not working so well? Which ministries should be eliminated? Which ones need to be modified? One of the challenges that most ministry leaders have is that so much in their ministry has become white noise. In other words, things have become comfortable, and they do not notice what someone else who is seeing it for the first time might notice. This week, be honest in your evaluation of yourself. In the same way, be honest in your evaluation of the ministry in which you are involved. Give God permission to search you and show you what needs to change. Oftentimes, what needs to change most is ourselves. When the leader changes, that in which he leads also changes.
Upon reflection, answer the following questions:
- Why do you believe it is a challenge to be honest in your evaluation of yourself? How often do you think Christians take the time to truly evaluate themselves? What does the process look like for you?
- A common practice in evaluation is called a S.W.O.T. Analysis. This stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Perform a S.W.O.T. analysis on yourself. At the present time, what would you say are your greatest strengths, what are some of the weaknesses you are working on, what are some opportunities you are considering, and what are some threats holding you back?
- How are you doing as a ministry leader? What are you doing to grow as a leader? What would those you are leading say about your leadership ability? Do you have someone holding you accountable?
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