I wrote back on January 11 about the insufficiency of theoretical knowledge when it comes to a practical skill like installing a car’s headlight properly. I observed that sometimes in our churches we seem to be more interested that people know “theology” at the expense of actually teaching them to live the Christian life. My friend Joel Witzel wrote an excellent comment which needs the attention of a full blog rather than a cursory response. Here’s what Joel said:

This reminds me, too, of the Jan 4 post about DOING vs. BEING. I won’t discount either. KNOWING has its value, too. I think we run into difficulty when we diminish the value of any of these.

I like HEAD, HANDS and HEART.

I’d agree, though, that we are too (more?) often guilty of lack of follow-through and keeping our word. However, I sense there’s a deficit of truth and identity that leads to the lack of doing. So which is the problem: be, know, or do?

It’s a non-trivial question, as Joel knows. He and I have very similar backgrounds: retired Air Force officers, doctorates in education, involved in training and education in the Air Force. The age-old question when designing a training program is: How much do the students need to know? There is always more that can be taught, but within the constraints of time and money, what is the optimum level of knowledge and the optimum balance of knowledge and skill? And neither is worth anything if the student doesn’t want to actually use the knowledge and skill. Hence, as Joel said, “Head (knowledge), hands (skill), and heart (attitude).”

And we can’t neglect any of them. Tomorrow, I’ll share some of a column I wrote on Heart, Hands, and Head when I was on church staff.

Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven… Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock…But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. (Matthew 7.21, 24, 26, ESV)