Space Cadet

"Some people are so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly good!"

Have you ever heard that expression?

Let me tell you emphatically that it is simply not true! Heavenly-minded people are of the most earthly good!

However, someone can be a "space cadet."

I am not so much referring to those who are nervou simply don't have a gift for organization. There are many reasons why good people are forgetful at times or are frustrated by the challenges of life that others seem to have mastered. I often count myself among them.

The "space cadet" is somewhere else. He consistently daydreams while the world goes to pieces around him! He is unable to help in any practical way here on earth because he constantly has his head in the clouds! We can't rely on such people because they are unable to complete even the simplest tasks. We must instead find someone who is more "practical."

But the genuine "heavenly-minded" person is of the most earthly and practical good!

The heavenly-minded may be a mystery to the practical person of this world but he is not a space cadet. He is touch with heaven via the Holy Spirit and thinks in terms which seem impractical to some but in the end are of the most good in the present world.

There are certainly even "space cadet" Christians! They usually don't participate in any practical work because they are receiving "a word" to do otherwise. They can't show up on time, pay their bills or  keep any other commitments because God is always leading them in some strange, impractical way. Never ask a "space cadet" Christian to setup chairs or take responsibility because he is "too far beyond" the earthly sphere for such menial things!

It is easy to spot the difference between a "heavenly-minded Christian" and a "space cadet Christian." The heavenly-minded Christian is being led by God toward growth, participation and keeping commitments and the space cadet Christian is being led away from them!

Many times God has genuinely led His people to do very unusual things. Jesus once spat on the ground and made mud to heal a blind man! In the midst of impending attack, God has told some to stand still. Joshua was told to blow trumpets to knock down the thick walls of Jericho. Gideon was told to send most of his men home as a strategy to defeat the Midianites, not a normally viable plan for battle!   

Perhaps Noah was the best example of a "heavenly-minded person. He spent a great many years building an ark, warning others of a coming world destroying flood.

How might the people have reacted? "Yeah, right Noah! There's no indication that there is any flood coming. Why don't you quit wasting all these years building this huge boat of yours? What do you call it - an ark? Why don't you spend your time doing something more practical and be of more earthly good and stop being so heavenly-minded? Why don't you help feed the poor, help pass some new legislation or support some new scientific discovery? Your family needs you Noah. Build homes for them instead of wasting time building this so-called 'ark.'"

But the time came when Noah was shown to be a genuinely and accurately "heavenly- minded" man and not s "space cadet" at all.

Accuracy is the key. If we are accurately hearing from God then whatever we are doing is the most practical thing that we can possibly do! If God is genuinely telling us to wait, then waiting is far more practical than any action we would perceive to be more practical! If God is genuinely telling us to spend our lives building a huge boat then there is nothing we can do that will benefit others more than doing so! If He tells us to sleep - then sleep! If He tells us to build - build!

Those whose thoughts are genuinely and accurately in tune with God's thoughts are heavenly-minded. These kinds of people will maximize their earthly good in the here and now!

The more "heavenly-minded" we are, the more practical and "earthly good" we will be to the world!