...welcome to The Gathering!!!
...welcome to The Gathering!!!
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No Earthly Good
Hey fellas. I haven’t rapped at you awhile. I know that many of you are Johnny Cash fans, so this little thought will come from one of his songs. I was listening to the Man in Black the other day and I started thinking about one of his songs. He has a song entitled, “No Earthly Good” that he claims was written for “phony Christians.” John was a Christian, but he had little tolerance for people that claimed they were Christians and yet, didn’t exhibit behavior that looked anything like Jesus. Anyway, in this song, the chorus reads like this, The entire idea is based on manipulation and fake love. You basically become someone's friend in order to "win them to Christ." You don't become their friend out of compassion or love, you become their friend under the condition that they accept Jesus. Usually what happens is that after awhile, if the person doesn't decide to follow Jesus, you bail on them and find a new target. I hope at this point you realize how unchristian this really is. I challenge you to find this idea in Scripture. “No earthly good, you are no earthly good. You’re so heavenly minded, you’re no earthly good. You’re shinin’ your light, right, and shine it you should; but you’re so heavenly minded, you’re no earthly good.” One thing that bothered Cash was that Christians always seemed to be looking up to heaven, but missing the point down here. This has always bothered me too. I remember sitting in church when I was your age and thinking, “Is this really what God had in mind? What is the point to all of this?” I remember trying to figure out how to be a Christian here, when everyone around me was waiting to die to “go home.” Our churches don’t help much with this either. Pay attention to a lot of old hymns, and even some new songs, and you will notice that a vast majority of them deal with dying and heaven. Let me give you an example. The song I’ll fly away starts like this: Some glad morning, when this life is o’er, I’ll fly away. To a home on God’s celestial shore, I’ll fly away. Don’t get me wrong, I like this song, and I see no problem with singing songs like this occasionally. However, people see this as a song of hope; I see it as rather sad. If our entire life is spent waiting to die, then we never lived. Jesus said, “I came to give you life.” It’s so sad to see Christians “go home” to be with the Lord when they never even lived here. God wants us to live here and now, and heaven is the reward. We are, too often, so heavenly minded that we’re no earthly good to anyone, let alone God. God has work for you. The kingdom of God is a living and active force for change in this world. God desires to see you be earthly good to as many people as possible. Don’t be so busy thinking about “someday” that you miss the opportunities “everyday.” Brad |