My place of employment provides us a list of objectives each year that we are required to meet.

Throughout the year we keep our objectives in mind and try to keep a record of how we have met them. Here are some of the objectives that we are evaluated on:

• Was our work turned in on time?
• Was it accurate?
• Did we take care of internal and external customers in a courteous and timely manner?
• Did we help train others around us?
• Were we adaptable in the face of change?

In addition to our required objectives, we also have to set goals for self-improvement. These go above and beyond what is required, but show we are seeking to be a more valuable employee.

Examples of goals may be:

To get training in processes that make us more efficient. This may require seeking out others who are better trained than we are.

Read books on what others have done to become a more effective leader.

Take classes offered to train in public speaking and presentations for meetings.

When the time of year comes around to be evaluated on how well we did, we are each required to write our own evaluation. We must examine ourselves!

Our supervisors will then look over what we have written, and will either agree or give reasons why they feel we were lacking. For example: Maybe I was 100 percent on time with my milestones, but a couple of times something had to be reworked. Perhaps it was a year of many changes in expectations, and my adaptability was less than what was desired. I may have had the goal of gaining expertise in a specific area and did not spend enough time on it or gain much ground.

Sometimes a supervisor will actually rate us higher than we have rated ourselves on a point and say we have done very well.

Each person’s pay increase is directly tied to how well they met these objectives and goals. If we only did what was required to meet milestones, we might end up with “needs improvement” and not much of a pay increase. We each must be able to show ways we went above and beyond to prove we are a profitable employee deserving of a higher percentage of pay.

Each year when I go through this evaluation process I determine that my employer will never have any doubt about my value to the company.

This year I started to think of the admonition to examine ourselves prior to Passover and saw parallels to what is required with my company.

In our lives as Christians we also have accomplishments and improvements to make.

Passover time is when we each look back on the past year and evaluate how we measure up to the objectives found in the Bible, and to assess goals we have set for ourselves. Examining ourselves should not be something we do just once in the year, but we should be looking at objectives and goals all year long.

Have we shown ourselves to be a profitable servant?

For example:

• Did we show love and profound respect to our God and King?
• Did we give honor to our parents?
• Did we practice love toward our fellow man?

These three items—love for God, parents, and neighbor—are basic requirements. Do I show “improvement needed,” or have I gone above and beyond?

Maybe we worked on some of the harder ones, such as:

• Giving thanks and showing love to God even when things are rough.
• Finding ways to respect a parent who does not meet any of the criteria of a loving parent.
• Forgiveness to those who trespassed against us.
• Did we set any goals for this past year?
• One goal might be fasting more often to seek God’s will in our lives and to draw closer to Him.
• We might set the goal to pursue unqualified love toward our fellow man.
• Daily prayer, Bible study, meditation and thankfulness without fail could be what we set for ourselves.
• Some may set a goal to read all the way through the Bible.

If I sat down and wrote out what I have done over the past year, would I be able to say I have achieved my objectives and my goals? Would my Father in heaven agree?

We need to keep our objectives and goals in mind all year long. We need to be able to look back and see that we have made progress and set our hearts to be even more profitable in the year to come.

All is not lost if we have not lived up to expectations. We are not cast off and rejected. We have a High Priest who knows our frailty and that what we desire to do, we often do not. He knows that in weak times the things we do not want to do, those are the things we do (Romans 7:15).

Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us because of His love for us. We now have an opportunity to once again show our love for Him by renewing our commitment and setting our hearts to become like Him.

Start preparing now for next year’s evaluation and ask God daily for help. Recognize that we are not able to do it all on our own, but we have someone better trained than we are who is more than willing to help. Get excited about the training opportunities offered to us freely through study aids and articles on this website.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).

We must determine now that when the evaluation time comes around next year, we will be able to see our areas of progress with the objectives and goals we met in our Christian work.