Knowledge vs. Practice
I find that the Christian life is hard to live out, it’s not necessarily that difficult to understand. I have known “how” to live the Christian life for some time, "Admit who I really am, accept Christ as a replacement for that, acknowledge that He now has ownership of me, then listen for what the boss wants me to do, then do it." Pretty simple right? So for me it’s not the knowledge that’s lacking, from time to time it’s the willingness, or the discipline. I always thought that the more I “knew” the easier it would be to “do.” Does that make sense? But, sadly, I’ve found that is not always accurate. I wish it were that easy. I guess in some cases and in some specific areas in my life that has been true. For instance, I was married when I was 19 years old and really, at 19, you’re lucky if you remember where you parked your car at the mall. So needless to say, I wasn’t prepared to be the “SPIRITUAL and FINANCIAL” leader that I probably needed to be (I realize that for those of you who know me well, it will be difficult to imagine me deficient … try to picture it though :-) Seeing this deficiency in my budding character, I started attending and serving in a program at our church called “Men’s Fraternity.” There I was challenged, pressed, often offended, pushed and encouraged to face the inescapable realities we all must face in our lives, but to face them in a way that would allow me to become a different sort of man, one that views life through a different lens. Gaining “knowledge” in that area helped me change in “action” as well. The result??? Now I’m perfect. I know… it’s hard to believe, but it’s true… just ask my wife…
I find that the Christian life is hard to live out, it’s not necessarily that difficult to understand. I have known “how” to live the Christian life for some time, "Admit who I really am, accept Christ as a replacement for that, acknowledge that He now has ownership of me, then listen for what the boss wants me to do, then do it." Pretty simple right? So for me it’s not the knowledge that’s lacking, from time to time it’s the willingness, or the discipline. I always thought that the more I “knew” the easier it would be to “do.” Does that make sense? But, sadly, I’ve found that is not always accurate. I wish it were that easy. I guess in some cases and in some specific areas in my life that has been true. For instance, I was married when I was 19 years old and really, at 19, you’re lucky if you remember where you parked your car at the mall. So needless to say, I wasn’t prepared to be the “SPIRITUAL and FINANCIAL” leader that I probably needed to be (I realize that for those of you who know me well, it will be difficult to imagine me deficient … try to picture it though :-) Seeing this deficiency in my budding character, I started attending and serving in a program at our church called “Men’s Fraternity.” There I was challenged, pressed, often offended, pushed and encouraged to face the inescapable realities we all must face in our lives, but to face them in a way that would allow me to become a different sort of man, one that views life through a different lens. Gaining “knowledge” in that area helped me change in “action” as well. The result??? Now I’m perfect. I know… it’s hard to believe, but it’s true… just ask my wife…
The point is, it sometimes works. Gaining knowledge about life and how it is to be lived sometimes changes us in positive ways, but only if that knowledge translates into action on our part. If our goal is to glorify God, to paint a more accurate picture of who God is, then our values will reflect our goal. If we lived out our values at home, at work, at school, at church, when we were out to eat or at the football game, when we were in our cars or on an airplane… that picture of who God really is would be accurately shown to countless people. That is very attractive, but just having the knowledge and ability to paint that more accurate picture of God without the follow through of actually doing it falls flat.
Now I’m not saying that we shouldn’t pursue knowledge, as a matter of fact I’m a huge proponent of the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge. I believe fully that the more we understand scripture, the more we ponder the deep issues and struggle to apply God’s truth to them, the more we will be able to put into practice the knowledge we have. That is the desired effect of knowledge; however, it doesn’t always have the desired effect. Knowledge for knowledge sake is of little good. It makes us feel better about ourselves and soothes our conscience from time to time, but if we don’t put it into practice, you know, make it a real part of our hour to hour life, it may only serve to make us arrogant and lazy.
I believe that we should take the knowledge we have acquired, you know the everyday, experiential knowledge that comes with making it this far in life, and the knowledge that we’ve had to fight tooth and nail for, through study and pain and mistakes, and be intentional about making our decisions based on that knowledge. In other words, in our everyday lives, our knowledge must guide our tangible steps. It’s not enough to know about the difference the truth makes in our lives, we must live that difference out in front of a watching world. Know the Difference, Live the Difference… huh, it’s almost like I’ve heard that somewhere before.
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