For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; –Proverbs 2:6
Many people think that knowledge and wisdom are the same thing. They most assuredly are not. What is the difference? Wisdom is knowledge applied. Do not misunderstand, knowledge is still important; after all, if you lack knowledge, wisdom has nothing to apply. Still, knowledge is not the end game but only a means to the end which is wisdom.
This is an important distinction for our sons and daughters to comprehend. It is true now more than ever since so much knowledge is available with one simple click of the mouse. Honestly, the potential is staggering. With such technology, knowledge is increasing exponentially just as the angel told Daniel it would (Daniel 12:4). While knowledge is wonderful, Paul is clear to point out that if all we have is knowledge, we are susceptible to the sins of pride and arrogance because knowledge by itself puffs up the individual (1 Cor. 8:1).
I have heard many parents lament the pride of their tech-savvy Gen Z children. While in no way should this be applied universally, even some Gen-Zers themselves recognize the trend and are … well … proud of it. For many of them, however, their arrogance is misplaced, mainly because they have mistaken knowledge for wisdom. One dad confided in me, “My child has a ton of knowledge but not an ounce of wisdom.” To paraphrase, “He is really smart in his schoolwork, but he doesn’t really understand how life works.” To make matters worse, some Christian homeschoolers think they are worldly-wise; they are unaware of how naïve they really are This combination has the lethal potential to both cause them great pain in this life and destroy their souls for eternal life. They may become enamored with sin, watching their friends mockingly sowing its seed, but if they had the ability to look into the future twenty years hence, they would observe the sobering harvest.
It is only when knowledge is applied through wisdom do we find its highest expression. How so? Life has a way of humbling all of us. It is one thing to know but another thing to do. Video games are not real life. Texting and talking about it is not actually doing it. Even reading about it falls short of the real deal. Wisdom, on the other hand, is forged through the furnace of life experiences, which comes to us mainly through fire and time. There are triumphs. Other times failure laughs at us. In both scenarios, however, we gain wisdom. Wisdom puts life in context.
People who have never been in wisdom-demanding situations give simplistic answers to complicated problems. Theory is great … and easy. Application, especially when other people are involved, is a bit trickier.
As parents, how can we help our children get knowledge but then go on and apply it in wisdom? 1 Corinthians 10:6 says, “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.” Since there is nothing new under the sun, we can look at the Old Testament historical accounts and see how people just like us interacted with a holy God and a sinful world. Additionally, when real life situations occur around us, they present opportunities for our children to learn wisdom. Of course, everything should be age-appropriate, but we should take advantage of real-life circumstances to apply God’s word in wisdom.
The more we engage our children on the matter of wisdom, hopefully, they will increasingly see the need for more guidance and direction, motivating them to turn to God and their parents. When our children learn the difference between wisdom and knowledge, it will automatically make them more cognizant of their need of even more knowledge and especially wisdom.
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