Nov 17
8:18 AM
TOP 10: Competence at Work (Originally Published 8-4-2020)
Nov 17
8:18 AM
Nov 17
8:18 AM
Wednesday, November 17, 2021
Proverbs 22:29
TOP 10 LIFE LIFTERS: For the next few weeks, we'll be re-releasing some of the top Life Lifters we've ever published since we started this devotional series. Join us as we look back at popular topics like prayer, joy, trust, and hope!
Today I am talking about one of the greatest traits you can have as an employee: competence. The person who has competence at work is the person who eagerly learns new skills, and they do their work with excellence. So first, they eagerly learn new skills. Some people say, "No, I'm not going to try that." I'll be honest with you, there are certain jobs I had where I didn't want to learn new skills. And guess what? That was not good for me. I just didn't want to do it, and it was wrong. We should be eagerly learning new skills, growing, and expanding. Then second, a competent person works with excellence. When they turn in their work it's thought out.One of the great things about Lakeshore staff is that I often ask them to do something, and then they come back to me with more. I say, "Can you do A?" And they come back saying, "Well, here's A, but I also found B, C, D and E." Guess what? I think they're very competent. And guess what? I also think, "How can I keep this employee? How can I give them a raise?" etc, etc, etc. We love when people are competent.
Where do I get all this from? Look at Proverbs 22:29. It says, "Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings he will not serve before obscure men." That word "skilled" is the same as "competent" in the language I'm using here. What's the proverb saying? By the way, proverbs are not promises. There's a difference. A proverb says that this is generally how life works. So, when you are competent and you're skilled at what you do, the proverb is saying that you're going to rise up in the ranks. You're going to start working and showing your skills before higher order people, not the obscure. When you are good at what you do, growing at what you do, everybody wants to keep you. You'll be the last person laid off. When people aren't getting raises, or very few are getting raises, you'll get them. And when people are getting raises, you'll get some of the highest raises, if you work at a good place of employment, because people who are good at what they do are special.
Are you good at what you do? Are you growing in your job? Are you asking your boss to learn new skills, going to new training, trying new things, given assignments and coming back with even more? If you're a stay at home Mom, are you building into your kids? Are you growing new parenting skills? Are you learning new ways to build into your children? Are you learning new ways to get good your profession as a parent? No matter what you do, you're either getting better or worse. It's very difficult to maintain. People who maintain, because the world is getting more complex and more challenging, even when you maintain you're really going down because the world is advancing and growing. Make it a goal to grow in competence. Father, thank you so much for helping the people reading this have more competence in their work. Help us all to eagerly learn new skills and to deliver their work as an excellent example of you and your excellence. We thank you for this in Jesus' name, amen.