Competence?

“Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”  -2 Corinthians 3:5 (NIV)

                “Our competence comes from God.”  Our abilities are not our own.  The things I am good at, those traits that make me uniquely “me,” did not come from me!  They were placed in me by God.  Some, my abilities and talents, were wired in at conception.  Others, my spiritual gifts, came about when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and was filled with the Holy Spirit (hence, “spirit”ual gifts).  Bottom line, they came from God, not me! (smile!!)

                This thought fills me with so much joy that I can hardly contain it!

                If they had come about by my own doing, I would have reason to boast.  I would be prideful.  I would have reason to look down on other people because they can’t do what I can do.  Then I would look at the people who can do things I can’t and feel inferior.  I would ask myself, “What’s wrong with me that I can’t do what they can do?”

                Because these competencies are from God, though, and not my own doing, HE is the one in Whom I can boast!  There is nothing that I can do on my own.  When a plan comes together beautifully, it's not me at all: it's God!  My passions, the concepts and causes that drive me, are my passions because God has a plan for it.  Those things that I do well, I do them that well because He has a purpose for it.  Those things that I am mediocre at, despite attempts to improve, He has a purpose for it.  When I DO improve in an area, guess what... it's God!  And those things that I CAN’T do at all?  You guessed it!  God has a plan and a purpose in my inability as well as in my ability!

                “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” (James 1:16-18, NIV)

                Does this mean that EVERYTHING about us is good, and from God?  No.

                “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, faction and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”  (Galatians 5:19-21, NIV)

                Yes, we were “fearfully and wonderfully made” by God, for His purposes (Psalm 139).  However, we were born into a fallen, sinful world and the consequences of sin are our eternal inheritance unless we commit our lives to following Jesus.

                When we give ourselves, our lives, our abilities to God, He will turn them around and use them for the purposes He has always had for them.  I find so much joy in the fact that the One who sees the outcome has given me my passions, talents, and spiritual gifts, and that it is with HIS competence that I walk through this life.