7/20/21
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.
We've heard that some people are "so heavenly minded they are no earthly good." While that may seem true, Psalm 73 would say something else. The Psalmist here rejoices that God is holding his right hand, giving him counsel, and will receive him into glory. There's a strong element of being heavenly minded here. Yet what do we think is meant by receiving counsel from God?
God gives us no counsel about how to conduct our affairs in the heavenly realm. He receives us there and describes what we will be like, but he never once tells us what we need to do. The heavenly places are, in Lutheran terminology, all about Gospel and not at all related to Law. It's all about what God has accomplished, not about what we do.
In fact, God's counsel is for the way we would live in the earthly realm. Would you like to be heavenly minded? That's well and good. But God teaches us how we need to live right here, loving and serving our neighbors diligently, wallking in God's truth. He tells us how to be good stewards of the planet. He tells us how to do what is good and right in our marriage and family relationships. He tells us how to have a good ethic in our work. He tells us how to care for our greater society, showing his loving care and concern to help the poor, rescue those who are in danger, and nurture those around us so they too can live lives which bring glory to God.
In short, to be heavenly minded is shown through earthly good. Earthly good doesn't make us heavenly minded, but being heavenly minded makes us do good things on earth.
So we receive the counsel of God. And we live this life as those who know what God's priorities and desires are.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the historic one-year lectionary.
We've heard that some people are "so heavenly minded they are no earthly good." While that may seem true, Psalm 73 would say something else. The Psalmist here rejoices that God is holding his right hand, giving him counsel, and will receive him into glory. There's a strong element of being heavenly minded here. Yet what do we think is meant by receiving counsel from God?
God gives us no counsel about how to conduct our affairs in the heavenly realm. He receives us there and describes what we will be like, but he never once tells us what we need to do. The heavenly places are, in Lutheran terminology, all about Gospel and not at all related to Law. It's all about what God has accomplished, not about what we do.
In fact, God's counsel is for the way we would live in the earthly realm. Would you like to be heavenly minded? That's well and good. But God teaches us how we need to live right here, loving and serving our neighbors diligently, wallking in God's truth. He tells us how to be good stewards of the planet. He tells us how to do what is good and right in our marriage and family relationships. He tells us how to have a good ethic in our work. He tells us how to care for our greater society, showing his loving care and concern to help the poor, rescue those who are in danger, and nurture those around us so they too can live lives which bring glory to God.
In short, to be heavenly minded is shown through earthly good. Earthly good doesn't make us heavenly minded, but being heavenly minded makes us do good things on earth.
So we receive the counsel of God. And we live this life as those who know what God's priorities and desires are.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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