Longing For Home

Have you ever heard the phrase “That person is so heavenly minded that they’re of no earthly use”? I’m sure we’ve all heard some variation of this saying. The warning is clear: if you focus too much on heavenly things you’ll become useless, so it’s best to keep at least one foot firmly planted on Earth. However, I have to ask: is that really a Biblical sentiment? Does the Bible really warn us against becoming too “heavenly minded”?

This may come as a surprise, but it actually does not! In fact, it does quite the opposite: the Scriptures urge Christians to be even more heavenly minded. This is a constant refrain throughout the Bible.

For example, take a look at Matthew 6. Here we see Jesus commanding people to not lay up treasures on Earth. Instead, He wants people to lay up treasures in Heaven. Why? Jesus explains:

Matthew 6:19: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Do you see verse 21? Jesus wants us to lay up treasures in Heaven so our heart will be focused on Heaven. You don’t see Jesus saying “Now, whatever you do, don’t think too much about Heaven!” He wants our heart to be set on it.

Paul expands upon this idea in Hebrew 11, which is often called the Hall of Fame for people of faith. The chapter lists person after person that exhibited extraordinary faith, holding them up as shining examples to follow. At the end of this list he explains the reason why these people had the courage to act as they did:

Hebrews 11:13: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.”

Do you see what these verses are saying? The reason Abraham, Noah, and the rest were able to act with such great faith was because they desired a “better country” – a heavenly one. Their mind was so firmly fixed on Heaven that they were willing to make tremendous sacrifices. They saw themselves as “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” – and because of that they were able to serve God with incredible effectiveness. They were not tied down to this world, so they were willing to give up the things of this world. Their heart was somewhere else.

I have heard people say that longing for Heaven is a selfish thing to do, but in reality the fact that these people were “heavenly minded” pleased God tremendously. Verse 16 tells us that because of this singular focus, God was “not ashamed to be called their God”. In fact, it goes further to say that God had prepared for them a city. These people longed for a better country and the Lord was going to give it to them. They sacrificed earthly things and in return the Lord was going to give them heavenly things. God was honored, not appalled, at their passionate longing for Heaven.

The apostle Paul was definitely heavenly minded. He longed to go Home:

Philippians 1:21: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.
23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.”

If you’ll notice, Paul does not say “Longing for Heaven is bad! Keep your mind here on earth. It’s selfish to want to move on to be with Jesus.” Instead Paul makes it clear that dying is gain. It is “far better”, he says, to depart and be with Christ than it is to say here. Now, Paul does recognize that at the time the churches needed him, and he remained here for years after this. But he clearly had a passionate desire to “depart, and to be with Christ”. That was what he wanted.

This wasn’t because he was mired in defeat and had no hope for the future, nor was it because Paul simply wished to end his life and be done with it. Instead Paul realized what many of us fail to understand: our life doesn’t end when the Lord calls us to Heaven! It actually gets much better. For Christians, dying does not end life; instead it starts a whole new chapter that is so glorious and amazing that the Bible says it “cannot be compared” to even the greatest trials and struggles of our life here. Paul was looking to radically improve his life by changing his address – and the same can be said for the “Hall of Faith” people that are listed in Hebrews 11.

After the Last Supper, when Judas had departed to betray Christ, the Lord took His disciples out for a walk. One of the things He told them in those precious last moments before His crucifixion was this:

John 14:1: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Jesus is telling them that the time of His departure is at hand, but they were not to “be troubled” about it. The reason He was going away was so He could prepare a place for them, and one day He would come back and get them so that they could be with Him forever. In other words, the Bridegroom was leaving to prepare a home for His Bride, and one day He would come back and get her so the two could be together for eternity.

Do you honestly think the Lord wants His Bride to be indifferent at the prospect of finally going home and being with Him? Do you think it pleases Him when she puts out of her mind the thoughts of her future and focuses on the things of this world (which are rapidly passing away)? The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. How can we be passionately in love with God and not long to go Home so that we might be with Him? Is that not part of being in love with God?

Yes, we have work to do here, but as Paul pointed out in Hebrews it was a longing for Heaven that enabled the great people of faith to do what they did. Because their heart was not set on Earth, they were able to make great sacrifices and accomplish great things. A true longing for Heaven doesn’t make a person ineffective; instead it frees them from the “cares of this world” that serve to distract a person from God, and enables them to more clearly see the Lord’s will – and pursue it with less hesitation.

It is my great concern that many Christians are so earthly minded that they are of no heavenly good. That is something that Christ did warn about:

Mark 4:18: “And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”

This is the real question. Have we become so distracted by the “cares of this world” that we can no longer see straight? What is really distracting us from the Lord: is it Heaven, or is it actually the world in which we live?