Too Heavenly Minded?

1 Reply

Through the years I have heard a few preachers say that we can be “too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good.” Modern translation: Radicals need not apply. When I read my bible, however, I find numerous accounts of “radical” servants of the Most High who turned their worlds upside down with their passion for God and His kingdom.

The first sermons of Jesus recorded in scripture were about the kingdom of Heaven. In fact, everything He taught, every miracle He performed, every body He healed, even His death on the cross, were all about the kingdom of Heaven. Who amongst us would ever think Him to be so heavenly minded as to be of no earthly good? And we are supposed to be imitators of Jesus Christ aren’t we?

No, I don’t think it possible to be too heavenly minded. In regard to God’s instructions, scripture commands that you impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6:7)
In other words, all the time!

Furthermore, blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. (Psalms 1:2)

Why is he blessed? When a man meditates on God’s word, he acts on God’s word. It is the heavenly minded who does this world the most good –that which lasts for eternity. The more “radical” believers are, the more likely they are to turn this world upside down for the furtherance of God’s kingdom.

So then, can a believer be too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good? Again, I don’t think so. I doubt that is what we should be asking anyway. Perhaps we should be asking the opposite:

Can a person be too earthly minded to be of any heavenly good?

–just a little food for thought.

This Book

3 Replies

“Never compare this Book with other books. This Book is from heaven. It does not contain the Word of God; it is the Word of God. It is supernatural in origin, eternal in duration and value, infinite in scope and Divine in authorship. Read it through! Pray it in! Write it down.”

~ “Apostle of Faith” Smith Wigglesworth speaking of the Holy Bible.

Of this book, he also said:

“Some like to read the Bible in the Hebrew. Some in the Greek. I like to read it in the Holy Ghost.”

Mr. Wigglesworth, I like the way you think!

Dying to Self

4 Replies

My dear friends Yomi and Marie Opeola-Messiri live in his native Nigeria and work tirelessly to preach the gospel and minister to the needs of the people. I was reading through their newsletter this evening and I found the following to be well-worth sharing:

Dying to Self

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinion ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger arise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient loving silence;

That is dying to self.

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any annoyance; when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus did;

That is dying to self.

When you are content with any food, and offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God;

That is dying to self.

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or record your own good works or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown;

That is dying to self.

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met, and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and you are in desperate circumstances;

That is dying to self.

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart;

That is dying to self.

~~Thank you Yomi for sharing.

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Galatians 6:14

[This is not my original work and is copied with permission from Yomi Opeola-Messiri, B. I. F. A. M…bibles for Africa Missions -author unknown]

Mostly Dead

3 Replies

Wesley died and all hope with him. His true love would now be forced to marry the disdainful prince and live unhappily ever after, or so it seemed. But as fate would have it, the hero of The Princess Bride was not really dead. He was, we are told, “mostly dead –there’s a big difference between dead and mostly dead!”

Granted, it is easy to sometimes think that some of our hopes and dreams have withered and died. We have probably all faced that at some point. Mark Twain said, “Lord save us all from… a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms.” Perhaps he was referencing Proverbs 13:12: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

When I think of that scripture, I think of a natural tree. It remains dormant in the bleakness of winter –its branches bare. However, when spring arrives, the tree bursts forth with abundance. Solomon said:
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Likewise, the fulfillment of hope also arrives at its appointed time.

Always remember, circumstances might be such that hope has seemingly died, but there is a big difference between dead and mostly dead. All it takes to revive hope is one simple prayer. Then, in its proper season, that hope which has been deferred will burst forth with fulfillment.

May we all find comfort in knowing this.

Murphy’s Law

1 Reply

Most of us are familiar with ‘Murphy’s Law’ –the old adage that “whatever can go wrong will.”
As for me, I’ve been there and done that! I’m sure you have too and therefore you will surely understand why I am advocating the adoption of a new law by all –the Romans Law (no, not the old motto when in Rome…..)

Romans Law is the adoption of Romans 8:28. Even when it seems that everything has gone from bad to worse with no end in sight, we must remember:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

I am reminded of the forty-fifth chapter of Genesis. If anyone had gotten a bum rap in life Joseph did. Being sold into slavery by his very own brothers was bad enough, but Joseph later landed in prison for no other reason than standing his ground and doing what was morally right. It seems the more righteous Joseph was, the more people resented him for it and they made him pay dearly for their own character flaws.

Nevertheless, when at long last Joseph was face to face with his brothers, what did he say?

“And Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me, I pray you. And they did so. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt! But now, do not be distressed and disheartened or vexed and angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God…” (verses 4, 5 & 8 )

The next time everything that can go wrong does, I plan to ask myself ‘Does God have a plan in all of this?’ I would like to encourage you to do the same. Remember, Joseph’s life may have looked rather dismal for quite some time but in the end, God made roses bloom out of the manure.

They Surrendered All

Loose Lips

1 Reply

There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it hardly becomes any of us
To talk about the rest of us.
~Edward Wallis Hoch

Without wood a fire goes out; without a gossip a quarrel dies down. (Proverbs 26:20 NIV)

Nails in the Fence

1 Reply

[This story is well-known, but I have posted it for those who have never heard it before because I feel it is a very important concept to grasp ~author unknown]

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence He said, “You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one.”

The tongue has the power of life and death… (Prov 18:21)

Polished Pearls

Little Pearls of Inspiration

Too Heavenly Minded?

This Book

Dying to Self

Mostly Dead

Murphy’s Law

They Surrendered All

Loose Lips

Nails in the Fence

Smile Awhile

Oopart ‘N Me