“You are so heavenly minded that you have become no earthly good.” I made this statement a few days ago while having breakfast with a few pastor friends of mine, it has me thinking. Is it correct? I have heard this little witticism before and even thought it to be cleaver, but after thinking about it for awhile I am not sure if it is true. Could someone be so focused on heaven or the things of heaven and then be spiritually useless on earth? Is that a biblical idea?

Think about this; is the problem with our churches that too many people are passionately in love with heaven, praying too much or reading the Bible too much? Unlikely. Could you be so heavenly minded that you don’t love others or don’t offer hope to the hopeless? If this is true then we don’t need to be thinking about heavenly things.

Honestly, I don’t see Christians retreating from the world singing spiritual hymns and spending their days fasting and reading the Bible. I don’t think monastic lifestyles are in vogue currently. No, the heavenly minded don’t seem to be dominating the Christian culture these days. It actually seems quite the opposite to me. I know, I am in danger of sounding quite fundamental and judgmental here and that is not my point or my heart, but I do believe that there should be a noticeable difference in the priorities of a Christ follower’s life.

Here is my point. Although we don’t see large numbers of people in the church living the life of a desert monk, we do, however, tend to see many living with an earthly focus. Many who are climbing the corporate ladder, making money, focused on materialistic gain. Then they are spending that hard earned money keeping up with trends and fads and the amusements of the culture. Of course there are the trite morning or evening prayers, Sunday morning church, and a few bucks given in the offering plate. Going through the motions being religious has become the standard when it comes to church life. So, my question is, can we be so earthly focused that we are no heavenly good.

The Apostle Paul thought this heavenly thinking fine and actually encouraged the church at Colosse to place their thoughts upward. ‘Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth” Colossians 3:2. The apostle is clear that he wanted the Colossians believers to think about heaven. He even says in contrast to popular opinion, “do not think only about things down here on earth.” In other words maybe we are no good for heaven if we are to earthly minded.

I was wrong with my comment at breakfast, it is not the heavenly minded that are hindering the work of Jesus’ church in our community, but the earthly mindedness that is slowing the evangelistic efforts of the church. We often mistaken the overly religious as the heavenly minded, but they are not the same. Religion always hinders the work of Christ. Religion is about the here and now while heaven is about the eternal.

When we think of heaven it’s hard not to think about faith, hope and love. It’s also hard to think about heaven without thinking of Jesus. Faith, Hope, Love, and Jesus is what planet earth and its human inhabitants need most.