Don't be so Heavenly Bound that you are no Earthly Good

 6-minute read

This saying has many meanings. People would argue that it is not directly quoted in the Word of God (The Bible). This fact does not take away from the validity of this statement. Would you not say humans have the tendencies to be on two different ends of the spectrum? Or… that we struggle to find the gray area? I tend to be either black or white. I have spent majority of my life pursuing balance and still am. So, what does any of that have to do with the saying… don’t be so heavenly bound that you are no earthly good? Before considering the perspectives of others, I took a stab at discovering what this statement means to me at this current time and came up with three things…

1.       Putting God’s Word into practice.

2.       Not forgetting about loving yourself.

3.       Being HUMBLE.

My controlling nature, my perfectionism, my impulse doesn’t make me crazy; those things make me human. If I went on in life ignoring these human sides of me, I would never learn how to navigate them, or this thing called life. I can work very closely at navigating my flaws, but they are a part of me. Humans have a lot of innate desires that fulfill our core longings which are significance, safety, purpose, understanding, belonging, love. Every command in the Word of God, contradicts our human nature which in The Word is referred to as the flesh. Flesh is used over 400 times in The Word. That very well includes the instruction to deny our flesh. We are both spirit and human and must learn to navigate life here on earth.

Denying our flesh includes realizing strategies to do so through learning who we are and learning to be ourselves in the world. Learning who we are does not always include understanding why we are who we are or how to fix it. The Bible says, God’s peace surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4:7). That does NOT include walking around oblivious to how our flaws affect others and how our human nature may misguide us. The truth of the matter is, we as humans do not have all the answers and a part of being human is living with that. Quoting a Bible verse in which you have meditated on and memorized does not make you, King/Queen Know-it-all. (Don’t be so heavenly bound that you’re no earthly good.) Meditating and memorizing Bible verses are strategies to deal with this thing called life.

I strongly believe that being earthly good means putting God’s Word into practice, applying it your life and how you walk it out (not forgetting the walk it out part). God cares about YOU. He wants you to explore who you are, identify your likes and dislikes, enjoy life by exploring your hobbies or taking an adventure to a new place, try new things, and engage in pleasurable activities responsibly. He wants you to gain spiritual maturity but first wants you to gain personal maturity through Him.

Yes, there was a period of my life I did nothing but pour myself into His Word, but it was utterly necessary because I spent most of life being totally oblivious to its true meaning (its fruit). Once that foundation was laid (Matthew 6:33), God blessed my life. I have a new career and a new marriage to show for it. Right now, God is calling me to live and enjoy my life (from His Heavenly Perspective); enjoy the fruit of my labor so to speak.

Don’t be so heavenly bound that you’re no early good is not forgetting about loving yourself. A lot of God’s Word does suggest us to put others before ourselves. Part of His Word also suggest us to be filled by Him which reminds me of the saying, don’t fill from the empty cup. The two greatest commandments are love God and love your neighbor as you do yourself (Mark 12:30-31). Well first, you must love God, then love yourself well enough to be able to love others. Loving God teaches us how to love ourselves and we cannot love anyone else properly until we learn to love ourselves the right way.

Last but most certainly not least, don’t be so heavenly bound that you’re no earthly good means being HUMBLE. If you think you get people saved and show them godly love by being “holier than thou”, YOU DON’T! You just put a bad taste in their mouths. Showing your human side and appealing to theirs gets people saved, not religiosity and not being a faithful churchgoer and most certainly not asking strangers you don’t know from a can of paint ‘do you know the Lord?’. Being a faithful churchgoer does not take away from your human side, but “priding yourself” in it does. Be humble enough to realize your flaws, and bold enough to improve them for the sake of how they may affect others.