Tennessee Titans’ running back, Derrick Henry, had a great college career at Alabama where he beat out finalists, Christian McCaffrey and Deshaun Watson, to win the Heisman Trophy. In the 2016 NFL Draft, he was taken in the 2nd round by the Titans.

During his first two and a half seasons in the NFL, Henry showed glimpses of being a strong runner but didn’t prove to be an elite running back. Mostly a backup or splitting carries with another teammate, he just never seemed to break through…until recently.

ProFootballTalk tweeted, “Derrick Henry critically studied his own film at the Week Eight bye, and he’s gone from 39 yards per game and 3.25 yards per carry to 87 yards per game and 6.69 yards per carry since.”

Mike Florio, with Pro Football Talk, wrote an article with the headline: “Derrick Henry Scouted Himself at the Bye, and it Worked.” Florio explained how Henry “…studied film from Tennessee’s first seven games of the season.”

He quoted Henry as saying, “I was doing too much. I was trying to make a big play on every carry, but I was going down too easy.”

There’s no question Henry has made adjustments based on his self-examination and is now playing extremely better. During his last two games, he rushed for 408 yards and six touchdowns, and his Titans are now 8-6 and still fighting for the playoffs.

Most of us don’t have the ability to watch our job performances on “video,” let alone our daily lives, but each of us can and should be willing to have regular self-examination. As we wrap up another year, it’s a great time to look inward and evaluate ourselves.

When we “scout ourselves” and “study our own film,” we can start to realize the changes that need to be made. Just like it required a “bye week” for Henry, we need to pause long enough to properly analyze ourselves.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:5 (AMP), “Test and evaluate yourselves to see whether you are in the faith and living your lives as [committed] believers. Examine yourselves [not me]! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves [by an ongoing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test and are rejected as counterfeit?”

In pursuing Jesus, we need to compare our lives to His example and look at the ways we need to adjust so that we can be more like Him. We must look to God’s Word as we reflect on our lives, character, faith, and obedience.

Lamentations 3:40 (ESV) says, “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord!”

As we scout ourselves, let’s ask God to reveal to us and convict us of the areas of our lives that require surrendering. David prayed, “Test me, Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind” (Psalm 26:2 – NIV).

Hopefully, before the New Year, we can discover which parts of our lives need more growth…and trust God to do the transforming of our hearts from the inside-out.

I’m Bryce Johnson and you can unpack that!

PRAYER: Heavenly Father, examine me and help me to realize the areas of my life that need Your grace and need changing. As I trust You to do the transforming, please give me the discipline to follow Your ways. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.