Our Western culture values information as the most important pursuit. This is because we are a product of the Enlightenment period. But the Bible values transformation differently. It views information as needed and important but not the end goal. Information is only valuable when it produces true change – transformation. Knowing a lot does not mean transformation. 

What does transformation mean? It means changed. You have transferred from one way of living to another.

Information

It may sound like I am against information. Not at all. It is vital. We need to have the right information or we will transform in the wrong way. The principles and wisdom of the Bible and the Trinity are of utmost importance. You will eventually become your information. So we want to get this right. How? Read, listen, gather around people who are full of Godly wisdom. Run from all the fads of the day or the ‘latest’ philosophical ideas. Accurate information produces good fruit time after time. But it is only the first step to changing. Required but not enough on it’s own.

1 Corinthians 8:1 says that knowledge (information) puffs up. Knowledge alone makes you arrogant and may not change you. You can change your opinion on a subject without your behavior changing. We want knowledge (information), but it is only the first step in changing the way we live and act towards others. True transformation is when we act and look on that information to be more like Jesus today than last week. Transformation is the goal of Biblical discipleship.

Application

Apply what you have learned from your information (knowledge) to become what you have learned. I know this is common sense. But many times we think we are done when we have understood and registered the material in our mind. It does not transform us until the information makes it from our head to our heart and limbs and subsequent actions. When we learn knowledge but don’t apply it, we are in danger of thinking we are something we are not. Don’t let knowledge only deceive you. Our modern training methods need to have a step to see if we are applying what we are learning. Are you applying what Holy Spirit is showing you now?

Repetition

You might KNOW something, but you don’t BECOME something until you have done it repeatedly till it becomes second nature. This is often where modern training methods fail. We assume you know it when you have passed the test. You may know it, but not be it. 

My suggestion is to slow down on the information intake and focus on only 1 or 2 new things Holy Spirit is asking you to do. Repeat those 1 or 2 things till you ARE those things. Then move on to new information. What are you working on applying today?