“She is so heavenly-minded that she is no earthly good.”
You’ve likely heard this biting appraisal leveled at a person who lives openly as a Christian. It’s pithy enough to hold a place among tired, overused criticisms but I have questions about its validity. If such a person exists, I’m pretty sure I haven’t met them. On the contrary, one’s earthly usefulness rises, at least to some degree, as their heavenly-mindedness deepens. I’d contend that the average Christian doesn’t consider heaven near enough — which poses one of our really puzzling shortfalls: why is it that our thoughts of heaven (and, by extension, our talk about heaven) tend to be so sporadic and occasional? Over the years, you’ve heard me share my suspicion that we will be in glory only a few seconds before someone says, “Why weren’t we talking about this all the time?”
I have no explanation for this. We believe the promises of God. We know that our hope is real. We are confident that, in time, we will enjoy a reunion with our believing friends and that we actually will see Jesus. Why, then, does that prospect not surface more readily in our minds and in our thoughts? To be fair, glory is not altogether absent from our thoughts. It’s in there. We imagine the new heavens and the new earth. When mull over the goodness of heaven when it surfaces in song. And, on occasion, this topic shows up in conversation. Yet, if volume of words is any measure, an audit of our speech over a 7-day period might reveal that our promised hope has a place somewhere in the crowded array of possible conversation topics: school closures and Super Bowl commercials, and the mid-term elections. The booming housing market and masks and Neil Young’s exit from Spotify. Good hummus and Short Track Speed Skating and lane closures on Pellissippi. There’s so much to talk about and heaven is in there somewhere but (and I think I’m being fair here) not in the place of prominence that you’d expect.
I think Dr. Piper can help.
A side note: If a man or woman speaks truth, they have my attention. But if they can make that truth rhyme, they’ll bring me to tears!
Dr. Piper makes truth rhyme.
This 5-minute poem, Glorified, was written in the 80s (I think), appeared in his book Future Grace and has recently helped “loosen my roots” by stirring fresh appetites for glory. I think you’ll be served by it.
Here’s a short excerpt:
Arthritic joints are lithe and free,
And every pain has ceased to be.
And every sorrow deep within,
And every trace of lingering sin
Is gone. And all that’s left is joy,
And endless ages to employ
The mind and heart to understand
And love the sovereign Lord who planned
That it should take eternity
To lavish all his grace on me.
Do yourself a favor. Follow the text online but let Dr. Piper read it to you. He does — here .