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.