Competence

<<capability, proficiency>>

"And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skilful hands he led them" (Ps 78:72). David's growing up years revolved around looking after sheep. These same character qualities enabled him to successfully care for the Israelites who looked to him for guidance. As believers we should be doing our best to know and do what the Bible says (2 Tim 2:15). All of Scripture originates with God and is beneficial to us, equipping us for service to others (2 Tim 3:16,17).

Seldom in life do things turn out as well as we anticipate and Satan would like us to give up and resort to self-pity by knocking our confidence yet our self-worth is related to our standing in God because of Jesus. Our competency comes from God, who gives us the ability and we must not think success is our doing as this leads to pride – which always has disastrous consequences (Deut 8:17,18; Jdg 7:2; Prov 16:18; Isa 10:12,13; Dan 4:30,37; 2 Cor 3:5,6; Phil 4:13).

When there is a problem, work out what went wrong and why, then try to implement change. Life is all about learning – often our mistakes are good character-forming tools and our best

Application and practice produce competence

teachers, although we can also learn from others! Gather around you those who are more able than you are and learn from them, so you can grow in efficiency and proficiency. If a person has not experienced numerous failures they have not ventured very far in life. We should be continually upskilling and becoming more proficient in life.

We should all be competent to instruct and mentor other believers in the faith (Rom 15:14). This is a key attribute for building the Kingdom of God. Knowledge is beneficial but only by personally applying it do we become proficient as well as genuinely embodying Christ’s teachings.