Knowing Something Versus Applying Something

I love to read and study and write about what I know and have learned. That’s me. To a great extent, that is my life. Education (especially in a spiritual sense) is a wonderful thing. However, knowledge without application is virtually useless for the learner.

Rewriting what is learned simply helps others and not the original reader (much). Why? 

There is a huge difference between knowing something versus applying something that you have learned. Just as faith without works is dead, knowledge without practice or application is almost dead.

A great example would be a certain person I know. She is likely a slightly better than average Christian, but still depends upon what others tell or teach her as opposed to understanding anything more than the basics herself.

Furthermore, this woman watches tv preachers a couple of hours per day. But, it is almost an exercise in futility; because, she never applies anything she sees or hears. Nothing about her changes in a positive manner.

In essence, tv preaching is just another favorite television show to her. For a decade she has stood still in her Christian walk, and her circumstances in life have deteriorated steadily. See what I am saying here?

In many ways we are all guilty like my friend, even if to a lesser extent. We make learning (even our Faith or Christian walk) simply an activity as opposed to an applicable part of our hour by hour lifestyle. We rarely process what we know intellectually and practice it to the point of being wise. Our facts rarely affect us to become wisdom.

If we continue to read and study and learn without using what we know in our own lives, all we are doing is making ourselves great Thursday night trivia players at some local restaurant or sports bar. Something tells me that there is a much better use for all the information that we grasp, if only we would learn to functionally apply what we know.

Learn – know – understand – apply – be wise.

~ Jimmy Hall is a professional business writer, crafting web content, business plans, resumes, letters, and other forms of written material /404-580-1501.