To Be Better than we Are

I may not be good, but I’m better than I was.  That’s what we tell ourselves, but are we that much better, or are we messaging the truth a little?

I think it’s important to for us, not just as people, but specifically as followers of Christ, to reflect on ourselves and determine just what kind of follower we’ve been.

We all struggle with sin, it’s a fact of our world, and nobody is above it.  A lot of times we find ourselves in exactly the same predictiment over and over again, committing the same thing over and over again, to the point where our priest can probably accurately guess what we’re going to confession for before we even open our mouths.  We are humans and humans are creatures of habit, even if those habits are hindering our own progress.

Now there is this thing in the professional world called a “Performance Evaluation”.  It breaks down into about 12 or so categories and asks a specific question, asking for a numeric evaluation and a written response from the evaluator.  Basically low numbers indicate you are doing poorly in that specific areas while high numbers mean you are excelling.  Nine times out of ten the evaluator is your instructor or your supervisor.  I was thinking about this and I recalled an episode of the show “Scrubs” called “My Fifteen Minutes”.  In it, Dr. Cox is set to evaluate the young doctor and defacto narrator of the show J.D.  J.D. gets upset when Dr. Cox tells him to fill out his own evaluation and stands up to him.  Dr. Cox points out that he wanted J.D. to do his own evaluation so HE could see where he stands, HE could ask HIMSELF these hard questions and come face to face with his own answers.

That, I think is probably the best analogy for how we Christians need to evaluate our own lives.  Those around us should know we are Christians not because we tell them, but because we show them in our lives, our actions, and our interactions.

So, I worked a little something up. It has 10 categories: Have I been charitable, have I been forgiving, have I been a good listener, slow to anger, slow to judge, kind with my words, generous with my praise, faithful in my prayer, a humble servant, and finally have I defended God.

The last one in particular I want to make special note of, because that’s one we tend to overlook.  He’s God, he doesn’t NEED us to defend him, but on the other hand there are those that attack God on a regular basis.  They demean our faith, and often we just sit there and say nothing.  They basically trash talk God, much in the same way they did in Jesus time by turning the temple into a shopping mall.  Jesus got MAD and drove off those that would defile the house of God.  He was 100% right to do so, and if anything, anyone who called themselves faithful should not have just been beside him in doing this, they should have led the charge. 

I’m sure we all know someone like that, or we’ve seen it in the media, where Christians are played as fools and treated as idiots.  But what does that say when we say nothing in response?  We aren’t witnessing, we aren’t defending, and by not doing either of those things, we are saying that faith in God doesn’t really matter to us.  We give lip service and do the bare minimum and that’s it.

So please, take some time, whether you do it strictly on your own or you use the form I attached, it does not matter to me, but please take some time and reflect on the kind of Christian you are, because knowing where you are at will help you focus on where you want to be.

Here is the evaluation:

My Personal Evaluation

Have I been Charitable?

1              2              3             4             5             6             7             8             9             10

What can I do to improve?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Have I been forgiving?

1              2              3             4             5             6             7             8             9             10

What can I do to improve?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Have I been a good Listener?

1              2              3             4             5             6             7             8             9             10

What can I do to improve?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Have I been slow to anger?

1              2              3             4             5             6             7             8             9             10

What can I do to improve?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Have I been slow to Judge?

1              2              3             4             5             6             7             8             9             10

What can I do to improve?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Have I been kind with my words?

1              2              3             4             5             6             7             8             9             10

What can I do to improve?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Have I been generous with my praise?

1              2              3             4             5             6             7             8             9             10

What can I do to improve?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Have I been faithful in my prayer?

1              2              3             4             5             6             7             8             9             10

What can I do to improve?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Have I been a humble servant?

1              2              3             4             5             6             7             8             9             10

What can I do to improve?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Have I defended God?

1              2              3             4             5             6             7             8             9             10

What can I do to improve?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________