Skip to main content

Too Heavenly-Minded to Be Any Earthly Good?


But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (I Timothy 6:11-12) 

            Are you a man of God? Paul said there is neither male nor female, so if you’re woman of God, you’re also a man of God. Are you one? If so, you need to flee from all this: love of money, false doctrine, conceitedness…. Instead, you are to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Notice that love alone is not enough. Your goal is to be, as someone I know is wont to describe it, “so heavenly minded you’re no earthly good.” Of course, his description isn’t accurate. It is when we are so heavenly minded that we become earthly good.
         When we’re earthly minded, we’re no heavenly good, and that leads to being no earthly good either. That’s why we have to fight the good fight of the faith. This fight isn’t about ripping open your shirt to reveal the Super Saint hidden behind your Casper Milquetoast exterior. It’s not about your physique. It’s about your soul-ique. Your soul is your promised land, that vast area that God has given to you to take back from your enemies: the world, the flesh and the devil. As with the Israelites, any time we fail to destroy our enemies, they return to take back the land we thought we’d won. It’s not a “sign a treaty to end the war” sort of war. It’s a way in which we must fight to our deaths so that we are free. We are given eternal life as a gift, but in order to receive it, we must take it and be responsible for it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more