Competence & Success

There are many misinterpretations of the Bible that have flourished in the church. One of them stems from Ecclesiastics 9:11, which reads:

"I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."

To many people this scripture means success happens by accident, although nobody will be bold enough to admit that that is what they believe.

One widely accepted interpretations of this scripture is that you do not have to be a fast runner to win a race; you do not have to be strong to win a fight; you do not have to be wise to have provisions; you do not have to be a man of understanding to amass riches; and you do not need to be skillful to receive special treatment; its all up to fate?

Basically, this interpretation means that success in life is determined by fate, irregardless of one's level of competence.

Well, I sincerely do not believe that this is the correct interpretation to the scripture, although it is one of the most popular ones.

Want to know what I think the correct one is? Read on.

Let me give you the benefit of the doubt: let's start our interpretation of this scripture from its last phrase, possibly where most people zero in when interpreting this scripture – and miss it, I'm afraid to say.

But time and chance happens to them all
Right, this is probably everyone's favourite part of the scripture and, rightly so, everyone's anchor to interpretation of the scripture.

So, where is the err?

Right there. Most of us just read but time and chance happens instead of but time and chance happens to them all.

Get it?

Time and chance happens to them all. By just reading but time and chance happens many have prematurely concluded that success meets anyone who ride on the wave of opportunity, irregardless of one's competence level. But that is not what the scripture reads. The scripture reads but time and chance happens to them all.

Who are them all? Are they not the fast runners, the strong man, the wise, the man of understanding, the skillful?

Then if this is so, our interpretation of this scripture slightly changes: it becomes that success meets the competent who ride on the wave of opportunity.

Do you see the difference?

The latter interpretation is built on the perspective that says that the essentials to your success in life are competence and opportunity whereas the former is built on the perspective that opportunity is the only essential – and that's not true.

Success does not belong to the competence; nor does it belong to those who merely see opportunity; it belongs to those who use their competences to take advantage of opportunities.

Be Inspired.

Develop a positive attitude towards wealth today!

 "I want to go on holiday in America but I don't think I

can afford it."

 "I wanna be a rock star but I don't know where I can get

the money to buy myself a guitar."

"My parents can't afford to send me to law school so I

will be a teacher, instead."

These are some of the responses that I get when I speak to

people about pursuing their dreams. These statements are

a deep cry among many of the countless people whom I've

spoken to about pursing their dreams.  They feel largely

incapacitated to pursue their dreams by the absence of

money/resources in their lives and have developed a

negative attitude toward wealth.

A negative attitude towards wealth sees present lack as

damnation to perpetual poverty and does nothing to change

the situation.

A positive attitude towards wealth, on the other hand,

acknowledges present lack but looks to it as a temporary

state of affairs that need not perpetuate itself into the future.

A positive attitude sees and creates opportunity to create

wealth even in situations of dire lack and takes appropriate

action.

A positive attitude sees that God has given us everything

pertaining to life. [2 Peter 1:3] (emphasis added)

Do you know what this means?

Let me share with you my understanding of this portion of

scripture by zeroing in on the three words that I have

bolded – has, everything and life – and in a way

demonstrate a positive attitude towards wealth.

But I would like to tackle them backwards – life, everything

and has – and by looking at the following three questions:

·        What is life?

·        What is the extent of God's provision in our lives?

·        When is God's provision made available to us?

What is life?

"Life is more than food." [Luke 12:23] You were not

created just to survive.  Your life counts for more than

mere survival.  You were born for a purpose [Jeremiah

1:5:]. And achieving this purpose also means pursuing

 your dream.

What is the extent of God's provision in our lives?

"God has given us everything pertaining to life." [2

Peter 1:3] Just as it is wrong to say that we are alive

just to survive from one day to the next, it is wrong to

limit God's provision in our lives to be our daily needs.

Surely, it should extend to our purpose, our hopes and

desires and our dreams.

When is God's provision made available to us?

"God has…" [note: present continuous tense] God's

provision for your life has been made available to you

today. The same is true for tomorrow.  Yes, even for

the day after tomorrow.

Develop a positive attitude towards wealth. Begin to work on

your dream. Go out there with the full assurance that

everything that you require in the pursuit of your dream is

already available to you even if there .

Be Inspired.