"Don't Be So Heavenly Minded That You Are of No Earthly Good"

Don’t be so heavenly minded that you are of no earthly good.

The pastor I sat under for the majority of my young adult life told me this when I was a young teenager. I assume he heard it from Johnny Cash. Whatever the original intended meaning of the phrase might have been, and there are certainly charitable interpretations, I wanted to share how this pastor used it.

Whenever I was struggling with my conscience over something that wasn’t explicitly laid out in Scripture, I would approach my pastor (as one does when managing a spiritual problem: seek a trusted spiritual advisor) and present my conundrum. Frequently these issues concerned some aspect of social or cultural relation. Can I watch this show? Can I read this book? Can I participate in this event? And frequently his answer was the quote above. Even then I was dissatisfied, but now I recognize how grossly irresponsible it is to say this to a teenager.

Instead of suggesting biblical principles to draw pious behavior from, he seemed to suggest that I could somehow be “too heavenly minded” as if that was a bad thing. What does that mean? I’m sure there are many parents who wish their teenagers were more heavenly minded. And to make things worse, his words also suggest that being of some “earthly mind” is somehow a desirable quality for a Christian that is required in order to do or be of “earthly good.”

His view, a common view in the world of American evangelicalism, was (and likely still is) that one’s involvement with worldly things could be used as a means to pull people into church, to “attract” them to Jesus. Of course, this is a fundamental misunderstanding of how evangelism and conversion actually works, and it also risks harming the spiritual well-being of the young Christian.

Have a conviction that maybe you shouldn’t be doing something? Have a desire to fill your life with spiritual and pious practices? Well, maybe you should do that thing, and you shouldn’t study more of the Bible. Don’t you know? You could use this as an opportunity to grow the church (and increase the pastor’s profits)!

No. This isn’t how faith, piety, and evangelism work.

The Scriptures clearly state that the Christian’s priority should be exactly the opposite. I will resist doing a deep dive into each aspect and just emphasize the appropriate mindset of the believer, and what might have been a better response. What would I say to my younger self in this situation?

St. Paul says in various places that we ought to be heavenly minded rather than earthly minded. One wonderful example comes from Colossians 3:1-7 (KJV):

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

Being heavenly minded is key to the Christian life. Desiring a pious and spiritual lifestyle is a good thing, and an indicator of a healthy faith. Any conviction that grows from a biblical principle is especially good and worth cultivating. Does watching that television show provoke feelings of lust? It’s good to stop watching. Does listening to that music inspire wrath? It’s peace to stop listening. And so on with every question. The conscience is not to be ignored: being earthly minded is dangerous to the soul. St. John says the following in I John 2:15-17:

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

So it is life to be heavenly minded and death to be earthly minded.

Perhaps not every problem will have an easily applicable biblical principle, and for those it is good to seek spiritual guidance. Read more of the Scriptures. Speak with family, friends, and pastors, asking for their insights. Pray to God and trust Him. He allows us freedom in our day-to-day choices, and He promises to guide us in Proverbs 3:5-6:

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

He may not make the path known to you, but your Father loves you and will direct you when you trust in Him.

Finally, there is no conflict between being heavenly minded and of earthly good. To be heavenly minded is to also be of earthly good. When we pray for God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven, we are also praying for His heavenly will to be done through us. What is His will? Micah 6:8 says:

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

And James 1:27 says:

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

The one who is heavenly minded seeks to do the will of the Father, which includes those things of earthly good like justice, mercy, charity, and service, as well as humility before God and others and resisting earthly desires. Piety does not hinder our ability to help others; piety enhances our capacity for earthly good.