Tuesday July 31, 2018

 

One of the most important steps in choosing and maintaining happiness is to evaluate. Evaluating where you are, where you are going, and if you have enough fuel to get there is one of the most powerful things you can do to continue growing. The reason why most people do not get stranded on the road is because they have evaluated how much fuel they have left in their vehicle’s tank and refuel them as often as needed. On the other hand, many people end up morally, spiritually, and emotionally stranded because they neglect to evaluate how much fuel they have left in their tank. One day they wake up to find themselves completely empty. Most people get stranded in their marriage, with their family, and even with God because they failed to evaluate and recognize that their relationships were running low. It is only when they find themselves on the side of the road that they truly acknowledge that something went wrong. The truth is that you cannot be fully and consistently happy without evaluating.

 

Some people fear the truth and so they consciously choose to ignore their situations rather than evaluate them. This reminds me of the person whose body is sending the brain signals telling them that something is wrong but they choose to ignore the symptoms rather than to evaluate them and address the situation. Then one day they finally end up in a hospital room with the doctor telling them “if only you had come sooner”. It’s like the couple that decided to get married and promised to remain married in the good and the bad times, but ignored the symptoms in their marriage. Eventually they find themselves getting a divorce citing irreconcilable differences. The truth is that the things that we ignore rarely get better.

 

Let’s take a good look at the way we’re living and reorder our lives under God.

– Lamentations 3:40 MSG

 

Five areas of your life that you should evaluate:

 

1. Evaluate yourself physically.

• What is your body telling you?

 

2. Evaluate yourself emotionally.

• What are you feeling? Any anger, stress, frustration, or depression?

 

3. Evaluate yourself financially.

• Are you properly managing your finances? Remember that the things that you ignore will not get better it will only get worse.

 

4. Evaluate your relationships.

• Are there symptoms in your relationship that you should be paying attention to?

 

5. Evaluate yourself spiritually.

• Have you been neglecting reading the Bible?
• Are you living a life that reflects you are trusting God?