There’s an old Johnny Cash song that goes like this, “If you’re holding heaven, then spread it around. There’s hungry hands reaching up here from the ground. Move over and share the high ground where you stood. So heavenly minded, you’re no earthly good.” The song beautifully enumerates the reality that often our theology is so heaven centric that we focus on things that Jesus didn’t focus on, losing sight of the things He did—love, mercy, and justice. Sadly, this hyper-focus on heaven colors everything that we do in contemporary Christianity – the way we worship, the way we share the Gospel, even the way we live out our faith in our communities. Now, I’m not saying that there is no heaven. I’m just saying “going” to heaven wasn’t one of Jesus’s central focuses. Jesus saves us so that we can bring the culture of heaven to earth, not so we can escape it! If we miss this, we may never live out His Kingdom purposes here. There is a lot in this world that does not reflect the culture of the Kingdom of God, just look at the recent headlines! I believe the reason for that is what Johnny Cash said, Christians are so heavenly minded, we’re no earthly good. So, what does it look like to advance the culture of the Kingdom of God on this earth? Well, it starts first with surrender to God—HAVE ME Lord. Have my thoughts, my attitudes, my words, and my actions and make them your own. Jesus, teach me, transform me, and use me to accomplish Your will on this earth. The other key component is that we must leave our sanctuaries and engage the hellish culture around us with the Kingdom message spoken through our lives. This is hard because people are messy and some of these situations are uncomfortable. So, what you are doing with your salvation? Are you waiting for heaven or are you living out your salvation? Are you helping to bring love, mercy, and justice to bear, so that others can benefit? The choice is simple, friends – we’re going to be of some earthly good or we’re not.
