He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (II Corinthians 3:6)
One of my goals, or perhaps it’s more of a
cause of stress, is the idea of being competent, and when I mention competence,
there’s part of my mind that continues, “at anything.” Competence is a
type of wealth. How much is enough? The answer is generally, “a little more.” Competence
also takes us back to Genesis 3. We’re offered the fruit of the knowledge… and
when we bite, we find ourselves aware of our nakedness…our insufficiency…our
lack that is somehow greater than the lack we had before we partook.
The word competence developed in
the 1590s as meaning "rivalry" (based on compete). By the
1630s, it came to mean "sufficiency of means for living at ease,"
from French compétence, from Latin competentia "meeting
together, agreement, symmetry.” This fits with the idea above that we always need
just a little more competence, because we are competing with others who seem to
have a little more. That makes our not enough. I will be smart enough when I am
as smart as DaVinci, Bach, Jefferson, and Einstein. I will be a good enough
writer when…. I will be a good enough Christian when I’m like Jesus, and not
before.
There is another negative about competence.
It tends to indicate that we no longer need help. Or, if I ask you to help me,
it’s not because I need you, it’s because I want the pleasure of your company…or
your approval of my skills. I can pass the test you give me.
There’s another way to look at competence, which is to describe it as having the ability to accomplish what is necessary. What today’s Scripture tells us is that God gives us
this kind of competence. That doesn’t mean He turns us into PhDs in Biblical
studies and Middle Eastern history. It means we can speak from our own experiences
and what we have learned. We may not think we're competent,but God has promised that He will provide.
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