Title: Interim Evaluation (Numbers 1:1-4)
Contents
Importance of midterm evaluation
It was a long time ago, but during the presidential election, the president of our country promised, “If I become president, I will conduct an interim evaluation during my term. He always said, “Please trust this person.” In the end, he did not keep this midterm evaluation promise and did a lot of unbelievable things, and eventually ended up in prison. The incumbent president also said that he would receive public evaluation through the 17th general election when he was impeached. Has it been evaluated?
Guys, what is evaluation? When we do something important, it must be evaluated. That's why we always hold a 'criticism meeting' after a big event like a retreat in the church. This is because, after completing the task, you need to properly evaluate it so that you do not repeat mistakes and move in a better direction.
However, the evaluation is usually done after the work is finished. However, in order to increase the efficiency of work and set the right direction, it is necessary to continuously check and evaluate in the middle of the work. Whether I've been on the right path, doing my best, and making a plan for what direction I should go in the future is the midterm evaluation.
Israel's midterm evaluation
In today's text, you will find an intermediate evaluation of the nation of Israel. This is an evaluation of whether we have come so far during the 40-year journey to enter the land of Canaan after the Exodus. The interim evaluation method was the census. As a result of the census, it was identified that there were exactly 163,500 people over the age of 20, but if you include women and elderly children, the number is actually about 2-3 million, which is a huge number. What was the purpose of the census in Numbers? The primary purpose would have been to count the number of men who would wage war. But it has another hidden purpose. This is to make them realize that it is the grace of God that these enormous numbers of people have safely made their way through the Exodus from Egypt. If not for God's grace and guidance, how could this multitude of people have endured in that barren wilderness until now? Therefore, through this interim evaluation, the census, they checked their current situation and confirmed that they have no choice but to live according to God's grace and guidance even after entering the promised land of Canaan, just as they have lived by God's grace so far.
our midterm
Today is June 27, the last Sunday of June. The year 2004 is almost half over. As we spend half of the year like this, I think we should do a midterm evaluation to check whether we have been active and working properly for the past half year. Personally, during the past week, I prayed all day and did an interim evaluation while looking back at my ministry for the past 6 months and 1 year after my appointment. In July, it will be one year since I took office. Just as my own midterm evaluation was absolutely necessary, our church and our members must also do the midterm evaluation at this point. So, what kind of midterm evaluation should we do?
First, we need to look back and evaluate the time that has passed personally and as a church. Each of us has resolutions and promises we make before God in the first week of the new year. I will live like this in the new year of 2004. I will live a life of faith like this, and there will be things that I promised and promised. It is to look back on whether those promises and resolutions are being kept. So is the church. There must have been a determination and a promise to build such a church by playing such and such a role in our church. Have we really kept these resolutions and promises over the past six months? Have you been doing your best and living under the guidance of God? You have to evaluate what you are doing.
Second, if the previous inspection is a review of the past six months, now you need to prepare to spend the remaining six months well at the same time. If you have done your best for the past 6 months, you will have to continue to do your best, and if there are any shortcomings, if you have failed to keep your promises and your resolutions are disturbed, you will need to reflect deeply and start with a new resolution. Because it's not too late now.