Have you ever heard the quote, attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes, “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good”? This type of thinking is often used to dismiss Christian piety or as a brush-off to tithing our first attention to spiritual things. But just how accurate is it? After all, no one was more focused on heaven than Jesus, and no one has ever done—or will ever do—more good on this earth.
A Scriptural Perspective
In Matthew’s Gospel, the phrase “the kingdom of heaven” is used thirty-two times. Jesus also refers to His second coming with noticeable regularity. The eternal significance of His ministry was obviously at the forefront of His mind—and it fueled Him to live a life of intensely practical earth-side action: miracles, healings, feedings, teachings, and sacrifice.
Jesus taught about having a heavenly focus constantly throughout His incarnate ministry, the apostles’ inspired writings followed suit, and it is not a coincidence that the final letter written to the New Testament church, the book of Revelation, is absolutely bursting with descriptions of what is going on in heaven as earth is ravaged by a final judgement.
Additionally, it is not uncommon in Scripture for a great prophet or leader to be given a glimpse into heaven. Jacob saw angels ascending and descending, busy about God’s work. Moses was given an unprecedented view of God’s glory when he needed assurance. Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, John, Stephen, and Paul were all given visions of God’s heavenly throne room, and these visions moved them to throw their full effort into the missions and messages God gave them on this earth.
According to the Bible, turning our minds toward heaven and the eternal reign of Christ is actually the most practical thing we can do if we want to accomplish any good on this earth. Colossians 3 admonishes us to “Set [our] minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,” and then proceeds to spell out what that will look like (i.e. earthly good):
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful (Colossians 3:12–15).
Purpose, Peace, and Practicality
Contrary to causing us to become distant, dreamy, and ineffectual, a mind turned toward our eternal destiny actually gives us purpose on earth and helps us focus on what truly matters in life. Matthew 6:20 calls this “laying up treasure in heaven.” In Matthew 25, the servants whose thoughts were consumed with the return of their lord were extremely productive during his absence. Later in this same chapter, it is to those who fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and cared for the sick and imprisoned that Jesus says, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (v. 34).
Lifting our eyes to the glory and harmony of heaven, presented time and time again throughout Scripture, gives us peace in the midst of earthly upheaval, courage and strength when we feel invisible or incapable in our earthly bodies, and compassion for those around us who cannot see beyond this often confusing and messed up earthly sphere we inhabit.
Looking ahead to the end of time allows us to pull our feet out of the muck of the mundane and live intentionally, confidently, and usefully as nothing else can. C. S. Lewis states it this way: “Aim at Heaven, and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you will get neither.”
All Scripture quotes are from the English Standard Version of the Bible.
