Character vs Competency
A few years ago, I stumbled upon a wise truth:
Character is greater than competency.
I learned this the hard way after being let down by people who were highly competent but lacked character. I realized that just because someone can do something does not always mean they should.
If we are not careful, we can even sacrifice our character in order to project competency. We exaggerate on a résumé. We tell half-truths in a meeting. We plaster on a smile as soon as we step out of the car.
We become image-conscious at the expense of our character.
Proverbs 22:1 says:
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.
What does your name represent?
How would your coworkers, family, neighbors, and friends describe you?
This year, Cooper started a new school. The week before his first day, I asked him, “What do you want to be known for at this school?”
He had a chance to think about the kind of reputation he wanted to build with a whole new group of classmates.
He told me he wanted to be known as the best at math. So we started talking about what goes into becoming great at math, what works against that goal, and what really doesn’t matter.
Since then, that conversation has helped us when he gets frustrated about something unrelated. If he comes home upset because a classmate did not play by the rules in P.E., I can simply ask, “Does that really matter if you are trying to be the math whiz?”
When we know who we want to become, it helps us decide what matters along the way.
So, what kind of person do you want to be known as?
How important is character? How important is competency?
Would you rather be exceptional in character and average in competency—or exceptional in competency and average in character?
Proverbs gives us the answer:
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.
Your abilities may open doors, but your character determines what your name will mean when you walk through them.
Sneaky Sin
Proverbs 20:23 says:
Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord,
and false scales are not good.
A false scale was a simple way to cheat someone. If you controlled the scale, you could make the transaction look fair while quietly tilting it in your favor.
You win. They lose. And if no one notices, you get away with it.
We may not use weights and scales in our daily lives, but the temptation is still around.
Do you take credit for someone else’s work? Misrepresent how much effort you gave? Cut corners when no one is watching? Tell half-truths at home to protect your image?
Honesty is not simply answering truthfully. It is living truthfully.
As a teenager, I would sometimes order water at a restaurant and then fill the cup with soda. My justification was simple: it barely costs anything, and no one will know or care.
That is how sneaky sin works.
It tells us, “It’s small. Nobody will know. Nobody really cares.”
But Proverbs reminds us that God cares about the hidden scale.
The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. — Proverbs 15:3
Our behavior cannot be driven only by whether we will get caught. Honesty, goodness, and integrity should guide us even when no one else is watching.
We all have places where we are tempted to tilt the scale in our favor—for comfort, convenience, money, reputation, or pleasure.
Where have you been telling yourself, “No one will know, and no one will care”?
What would it look like to make that right today?
A Sure Path to Failure
We have all heard the phrase: Failing to plan is planning to fail.
No one sets out hoping to fail. In fact, when failure comes, we often talk as though it simply happened to us. But Proverbs reminds us that sometimes today's failure began with yesterday's neglect.
Proverbs 20:4 says:
The sluggard does not plow in the autumn;
he will seek at harvest and have nothing.
The point is simple:
Failure in one season creates consequences in the next.
The sluggard wants a harvest. He just doesn't want to do the work when it needs to be done.
We can fall into the same trap. We become so consumed with the urgent that we neglect the essential.
Big Cooper recently introduced me to a helpful phrase: “work outside of work.” In other words, how much effort do we give to the parts of life that don't come with a paycheck or deadline?
Are you giving your family, friendships, spiritual life, home, and health the same intentionality you give your job?
We often say, “I'm too busy.” Sometimes that is absolutely true. But other times our screen-time reports, streaming history, and entertainment habits suggest that the problem isn't simply the amount of time we have.
The things we prioritize tend to get done.
For many of us, the issue isn't a lack of time but a failure to order our time around what matters most.
The farmer in Proverbs couldn't wait until harvest season to decide he wanted a crop. There was work that had to be done months earlier.
The same is true in life.
The conversation you keep postponing, the relationship you keep neglecting, the habit you keep avoiding, the spiritual discipline you keep putting off—eventually harvest comes.
What are you failing to do today that you will wish you had done when harvest comes?
Sure an evening to rest is nice, but is that good thing (rest) becoming a required thing to get though the day. If so, we are only building the problems of tomorrow due to our failure to deal with them today!
A Dirty Church
I have never understood the phenomenon of toy collectors. The original Barbie doll sold for $3 in 1959, but today one in mint condition can be worth thousands. The same is true of old G.I. Joes and countless other toys—as long as they are still in the box.
But what fun is that? Barbies are meant to be played with, not preserved! Some things become more valuable when they are kept neat, untouched, and like new. Life isn't one of them.
Proverbs 14:4 says:
Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
but abundant crops come by the strength of an ox.
The point is fairly straightforward. You can have a clean manger if you don't have an ox—but you will also have a smaller harvest. The ox costs money. It eats. It smells. It makes a mess. But it also makes the farmer far more productive.
We must be careful not to confuse neatness with productivity.
Productivity comes with a cost—time, money, energy, inconvenience, and sometimes mess. God is not calling us to live immaculate but sterile lives. He calls us into the mess of meaningful work.
That is true for us individually, but it is also true for the church.
If we want a perfectly clean church, the easiest solution is to eliminate all the people! People bring mess. Kids spill things. Ministries wear things out. People come with problems, needs, and complicated lives. But stepping into that mess is part of what the church exists to do.
A few weeks ago, I found myself on my knees cleaning coffee stains and water spots from our church carpet. I could be annoyed by the seemingly endless spots—or I could remember that every stain represents people using this building, gathering together, and being ministered to here.
The church is not meant to be kept in the box. It is meant to be used.
Wise Surroundings
We are all influenced by the company we keep. Think about the different ways you act, joke, laugh, or speak when you are in the following places:
At home
At church
At work
At a family gathering
With friends from high school, college, or back home
There is no doubt that who we are around affects who we are. This is one reason God was so adamant that the Israelites remove the other nations from the Promised Land. The thought is very simple: Living among others often results in living like them.
Proverbs 13:20
Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise,
but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
Who are you walking through life with?
List the first 6 names that pop into your mind. With each name in your head, give them a wisdom score from 1–5.
Would you want to follow this person’s path?
Would you want this person making decisions in your life?
Would you seek their advice or counsel on serious matters?
If you deem those closest to you as unwise, this needs to be a wake-up call. You need to consider who you surround yourself with and how they are influencing the direction of your life.
If you want to be wiser, surround yourself with wise people. Spend time in the presence of people who seek God, have their priorities in order, make wise decisions, and make you better.
Who is one person in your life that you consider wise?
Take time today to thank them for the wise influence they have had on your life!
Wisdom and foolishness are contagious. Which are you susceptible to catching?