DANIEL WAS NOT in Babylon by choice. But he evidently acknowledged the sovereign hand of God and accepted that Babylon was his ordained place of service. Therefore we see him wholly invested in acquiring knowledge and skills to serve in Nebuchadnezzar’s court. He did not shun this learning as having no Kingdom purpose, nor dismiss it as being incompatible with his Jewish heritage. Instead, Daniel so applied himself to learning the Chaldean literature and language that he surpassed his counterparts in competence and credibility. How foundational and indispensable this was! Without thus establishing himself, Daniel could hardly have had the influence that he wielded over the next five decades. Competence is central to our calling in the marketplace. Dorothy Sayers wrote in 1942, “In nothing has the church so lost her hold on reality as in her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation. . .The Church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.” The Christian educator, physician, renovator or mechanic must be competent in his field, fit for God’s purpose. Otherwise, no amount of church ministry activities could compensate for that. Christian discipleship does not demand that we acquire prominence, prestige or worldly success in the marketplace. But our discipleship requires that, in our ordained area of service, we strengthen our competence and grow in credibility, thereby honouring God.