By Pastor Elijah Mutiso
Associate Pastor, Fedha Church KAG
12. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
13. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
14. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
We have come to the end of the year and we thank God for his grace and mercy. We are now entering 2024 very excited and we all hope it will be better than 2023.
The end of the year is a checkpoint in our lives where we check our life performance in every area and take necessary action before proceeding to the next season
So cross over, every one of us needs to evaluate how we fared in 2023 and take corrective action. It is important to do stock-taking to see where you failed and what you should have done, what went wrong and what needs to be done so that you can do better in 2024. Wengine husema hiyo mwaka ilikuwa wacha iishe tuingie mwaka ingine without evaluation. Shida haikuwa mwaka shida ilikuwa ni wewe (The problem was not the year, you were the problem), evaluate yourself
God is always evaluating us as time goes on.
Joshua 13
1. When Joshua had grown old, the Lord said to him, “You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.
2. “This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and Geshurites
Joshua stopped evaluating himself. Mwaka ulikuwa unapita anaingi ingine bila evaluation (Years were going by without evaluation). Over the years alipata amezeeka (he became old) without even noticing and he had not yet achieved his God given mandate. Usione bado wewe nikijana miaka inaenda (Don't assume you are still young, time is moving) , evaluate yourself ama ushtukie time imeenda (or you will be shocked after time has gone by). Finally progress haikuwa inapelekana na uzee (was not moving with age). God had to remind him ..umezeeka sana (he had grown old and) and you have not yet achieved.
It seems Joshua did not evaluate his performance at the end of every year to make the necessary changes in the coming year and improve the situation.
Unless you evaluate yourself, 2024 will make no difference na utazeeka mambo ikiwa vilevile (you will age and things will be the same).
Some of us don't care or bother to evaluate our lives or performance but God cares. He gives us Time to accomplish and he expects us to do it well.
GOD EVALUATES
In Genesis 1, God evaluated his work every evening before starting the work the following day. Every time he saw it was good and the following day he built on what he had done the previous day (verses 4, 9, 12, 18, 21, 25) every time he looked, he evaluated and saw it was good and there was evening and morning…
God is performance-conscious. He is concerned about the quality and level of our work performance because he evaluates.
Colossians 3.
23. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
Jesus performed to the best of His ability, He lived and performed his ministry with diligence. Even people took note of it.
Mark 7
37. People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
He expects the same from us.
The parable of the talents (Matthew 25), describes two types of people-those with good performance and those with bad.
He evaluated them and their work and even made commendations.
He described the workers with good performance telling them “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (v. 21). But when talking to the unproductive worker, the master said, “You wicked, lazy servant!” (v. 26).
Every end of the year is a good time to do self-evaluation before the master gives us his evaluation at the end of our term.
You need to evaluate your walk with the Lord and you life in general.
Jesus is in the business of evaluating us his church.
Revelation 2.
2. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.
3. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
4. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
5. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
9. I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
13. I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.
14. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.
15. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
19. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
20. Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.
Revelation 2
2. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.
3. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
4. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
5. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
9. I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
13. I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.
14. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.
15. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
19. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
20. Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.
The church needs to keep evaluating itself or else we lose track.
Evaluation should help us note areas of strength and address areas of concern so that we can make good use of 2024 if God grants us. this should help you set your 2024 goals and be in a position to achieve them so that you may serve your purpose here on earth in the time God has given you
Some of us need a change of attitude towards life. The problem is not how things are but how you see them.
Since God desires that we live and perform our work because he he evaluates us on the scale.
Daniel 5
27. Tekel : You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
Sijui wewe ukiwekwa kwa scale ya Mungu utapatikana aje (I don't know how you would be found if weighed on God's scales).
Why should you be given another year and you still have the same attitude?
You are still wanting
As we close the year, you need to evaluate your walk with God and your life so that you can take the correct measures and redeem yourself if God grants you 2024. Otherwise, if you do things and live the same way, expect similar or worse results.
Today evaluate and make the necessary changes. Don't be a fool just excited about the new year. There may be nothing new for you.
Proverbs 12:15 A wise man changes his mind but only a fool who does not.
Paul finally evaluated his life at the end and he said confidently:
2 Timothy 4:
7. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
8. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
Jesus evaluated himself finally and said... "it is finished".
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