One of the great challenges of our day is to stay focused on the things that truly matter. Most of us are preoccupied with our lives and surviving the daily grind. We seem to manage the urgent, but we miss the important. As I have considered these things lately, I can see how easy it might be to finish this earthly race short of my potential–especially if I do not make time to regularly evaluate my life against God’s Biblical standard.
As Christians, we are called to stay focused, and periodic evaluations are helpful as we seek to finish our races well. Professionally, most of us are required to evaluate our job performance on a regular cycle, and as God’s people we, too, need to critique/ evaluate our spiritual lives on a regular basis. There is simply no way to finish our spiritual races well if we do not regularly evaluate them.
As we enter the summer months, let me encourage each of us to take some time to evaluate where we might need to grow/ develop in our walks with Christ . Do a personal inventory. Answer questions like this one: will the things I am doing today get me to where I want to be tomorrow in my spiritual development? If not, then set a change of course. I am challenged by the words of the Apostle Paul who said at the end of his life: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith,” (II Tim. 4:7). May God give us the grace to be able to live our lives in such a way that we may say the same!