The 3 laws of practical

(Photo: derekGavey)

Practical means three things to me, and I think we could all use more of it in what we share. If you (or anything else) breaks any one of these three laws, you’ve failed the practical test. :)

Let’s work on passing.

Law 1: Practical is detailed

How many times have you heard a pastor say something like, “We were created to glorify God”? Or how many times have you said something like that? Man, I’ve even written it here.

The problem is that even though it’s accurate, without more details, I have no idea what it means. What does it mean to “glorify God”? (Here’s my answer.)

I’m fine with shorthand (that’s why we say “glorify” instead of its entire definition), but I want to make sure everyone’s clear on what it actually means. Because a lot of times, I think we use shorthand without having any clue on details.

Law 2: Practical is simple

Simple is the flip side of detailed, but it’s just as important. For something to be practical it has to be easy enough to use. Sure, it might take some effort, but it shouldn’t take more effort than’s required.

A practical vacuum cleaner doesn’t have a ton of bells and whistles (literally) – it has just enough parts to get the job done.

That’s what practical is: just enough to get the job done.

Law 3: Practical is actionable

Detail and simplicity still don’t completely cover practicality. A good history text might contain detailed information in a simple-to-learn format, but it’s certainly not practical… yet.

Practical answers the question, “What are we going to do about it?” (or at least tries to answer it). It’s not all about theories – it’s all about practice.

So, lest you begin to think this post fails the practical text by breaking that last law, here’s what you can do about it…

Serving Suggestions:

(1) Run your life – everything you are, everything you do, and everything you share – through the practical test. Take a piece and ask…

a) Is this detailed enough to follow?

b) Is this simple enough to understand?

c) Is this actionable enough to do?

(2) Help others become practical. I think there’s a gaping hole in most of what we teach. You can probably do exactly what someone else is doing + practicality, and totally rock. We need you for this.

(3) Okay, questions. Which of these laws is hardest for you to keep? Did I miss any laws – what would you add? How could we be more practical?