Does Your Self-Assessment Give You Hope for the Future?

I recently participated in a conversation that caused me to stop and reflect on a topic with which I am intimately familiar – ME!  I examined my own qualifications, track record, potential, and hope for the future.  I will openly admit that it was not the kind of reflection I enjoy.  While it was not all bad, it forced me to recognize that I have fallen short of my own expectations in several areas of my life.  If you have ever felt this way before, I encourage you to read on for a simple, but real solution!

Why We Self-Assess

For most of us in leadership positions, self-assessment is not something new.  Few people make it to leadership roles without holding themselves to higher standards. This process requires reflection and can often leave us feeling incomplete.  Depending on how high your standards are, this process can even be downright depressing at times.

Have you experienced this?

Before I go further, I want to be clear that this process is not about false humility or self-deprecation.  I am discussing a sincere assessment of your own talents, skills, and abilities along with the results of applying those resources to your life.  This is an honest inventory of your results and progress along whatever path(s) you have chosen.

Upon completing an assessment of this type, I have often found myself drained.  There have been a few times I have been worse off than others.  Whatever the case, I have found this to be a necessary, but taxing, process.  

A Metric We Don’t Often Consider

Because I understand the necessity – and difficulty – of this process, I want  to provide you with some additional perspective, and hopefully some encouragement.  I want to start by sharing a verse that stopped me in my tracks not long after the conversation I mentioned above.  See if this verse means anything to you:

Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed.

1 John 3:2

Did you catch the key concept in this verse?  Read it again to be sure.

John is talking to all believers when he says that “what we will be has not yet been revealed.”  Do you grasp the weight of that verse?  Basically, this verse says that you can assess yourself all you want right now, but what you WILL be in the future is not yet visible to you.  I take that to be HUGE news!

Scripture Provides an Advantage

In an effort to back up this idea with more evidence, I want to offer you more Scripture.  It is my belief that Christian business leaders have an advantage over others in similar positions.  While all leaders must assess themselves from time to time, as Christians we have the advantage of Scripture and the hope it offers – regardless of the results of our assessment.

When completing the typical self-assessment, it is common for us to compare ourselves against the world’s standards.  Our measure of our progress is against that of others pursuing worldly goals.  We evaluate our qualifications against the world’s resumes.  We do this because it is natural and because there are no alternative measuring sticks that are readily available.

Unfortunately, there is a problem with this practice:

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God…

1 Corinthians 3:19

God simply does not operate on the world’s economy.  He does not measure us according to the world’s standards.  He sees the wisdom of this world as foolish!  We should be encouraged by this news and should hold it close to our hearts as we assess ourselves.

Hope For the Future

Of course, it is not enough for us to know that God is not comparing us to the world’s standards.  We need hope for the future.  Here is another verse that you must embrace and believe as you seek to avoid or eliminate any discouragement regarding where you stand today:

For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

I am sure you have probably heard this before, but it still bears repeating.  Not only is the future “you” not yet visible, there is a specific plan for you in God’s mind!  He has a future in mind for you and it is not a bad one.  We all need to draw encouragement from this truth!

Finally, just in case you are not sure about whether these verses apply to you and your situation, let’s take a look at another verse:

For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.

Romans 15:4

Wow! Read that again.  

We have the Bible for our instruction – we know that.  But we also have it for hope through endurance AND through encouragement from the Scriptures.  When we begin to slip back into the discouragement or frustration over our perceived lack of progress or results, we MUST turn our attention to these verses.  It is here that we can find encouragement for the present AND hope for the future!

Don’t forget…it is still critical for anyone in a leadership position to stop on a regular basis and assess themselves.  This is a healthy practice for a growing and effective leader.  However, I believe it should be done in conjunction with a review of the above verses.  Alone, the assessment can lead to discouragement.  Paired with these verses, it can be a recipe for the energy and passion that comes from a healthy hope for the future!

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