Year 5, Day 337: Ecclesiastes 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Competency

• Competency: Being able to accomplish what one is called to do.

In Ecclesiastes 7 we have some very interesting advice.  The day of one’s death is better than the day one one’s birth.  Don’t be too righteous.  Don’t listen to what people say about you.  A good name is better than a precious ointment.

I can go on, but what we hear in this passage is a very strange perspective.  How many of us genuinely think that day that we die will be better than the day that a person is born?  Honestly, answer that question.  How many of us celebrate the day that a person dies more than a day when we hear a baby is being born?  I’d be shocked if anyone can truly admit to living as though the day of death is better than the day of birth.

I think this is why I am drawn to the topic of competency on this chapter.  This chapter challenges many of our most innate cultural perspectives.  We can often speak platitudes that makes it seem like we are on the same page as much of the advice given here.  But are we really living like it or are we just saying words that sound like we are?  Are we really competent in a godly perspective or have we heard the perspective so often that we can spit the words out without really thinking about their truth in our life?

We need to be competent about living a life that believes the day of death is better than the day of our birth.  We need to be competent about living a life that seeks genuine spiritual righteousness and not a self-serving righteousness.  We need to be competent in being able to not listen to what people are saying about us too deeply.  We need to be competent about believing that our good name is one of our most precious assets.

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