Historians generally ascribe that Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was the last man who knew everything that there was to be known “in the world”. Imagine, knowing everything that could be known temporally. We live in a day that the amount of knowledge to be known and the access to that knowledge increases exponentially practically every day. Another (important) book to read. New information. New information replacing obsolete information. New skills to be acquired suddenly rendering the old ones substandard. Increasing leadership challenges in a constantly shifting landscape demanding increasingly greater leadership acumen. What worked yesterday doesn’t necessarily work today and certainly will not work tomorrow. Our competence, at an ever increasing pace, rapidly devolves to incompetence.
As I get older, I am every day struck by my own ignorance and incompetencies. This is not some navel gazing 360 exercise. This assessment is also not born from regret. Rather, it is a stark acknowledgement of what I am not and the futile chasing of trying to become anything but ... very human. There simply isn’t enough time or discipline to become “all that I can be” much less, “all that I need to be”.
Yet what distinguishes us as believers is not our earthly skills or competence, but rather the Spirit’s empowering. We can take great encouragement, and instruction, in Paul’s admonition from 2Corinthians 3:5-6, “but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant.” It truly becomes daily ever more about His life and His leadership and His sufficiency flowing through us. HE has made us competent. It is in our weakness that all of His strength is manifested and perfected, a holy competence. Let us happily make the exchange of ours for His.