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The music of heaven

“For God alone my soul in silence waits.” Psalm 62:1

Today I am writing this article from a comfortable chair on my back patio. This isn’t my normal spot to work, and right now I’m wondering why not!

I live in Texas and know that May is when temperatures start to climb. Soon, I will need the cool air from the A/C to maintain my concentration. But this morning, the temperature is perfect, the breezes are so pleasant, and the only sounds I hear besides my typing are the many birds who are enjoying this moment as much as I am.

God did not tell us very much about heaven, but I’ve often wondered what eternity will sound like when I arrive. Will I hear familiar voices? Will the angel’s praises fill the air? Will heaven have the joyful sounds of these birds calling to one another? What will heaven sound like? 

According to C.S. Lewis, “In heaven, all that is not music is silence.” That is a quote from Screwtape Letters, his famous novel about the work of Satan in our world. What did C.S. Lewis mean? I enjoyed studying that answer!

What is the “music” of heaven?

Freelance journalist and author Erin Rebar wrote a wonderful article about Screwtape Letters. She explained the C.S. Lewis quote, “In heaven, all that is not music is silence,” in this way:

I love this quote because it feels so applicable to our modern world. The quote comes from a section in the novel where Screwtape is explaining to his nephew the importance of filling the world with Noise. Certainly, noise is everywhere these days, found in the honking of horns, the squealing of tires, the buzz of meaningless conversation, the endless binging of Netflix shows and the hours spent on Facebook. Noise doesn’t have to be merely auditory: in this context noise is whatever distracts us from the most important things in life and draws us away from God.

I had never considered the idea that in heaven, there will be nothing that can distract us from God. According to Rebar, there is no noise in heaven.

Stop and listen to your surroundings for a moment. What might be distracting your ears or your thoughts right now? Are you reading these words in a crowded room filled with voices? Are you reading in the quiet right now? Are you thinking about the rest of the day or reading with the TV on in the background?

Our world is a noisy place, just as Erin Rebar said. A lot of our noise isn’t perceived through our ears as much as it is heard in our thoughts. The sounds in heaven will be very different than the noises of earth.

The silence of heaven

We live in a day of 24/7 programming on our televisions, satellite radio in our cars, and endless podcasts to listen to, many of which can add value to our lives, but often don’t. The decision to be silent is the choice to step away from the noise in order to be alone with God’s thoughts.

Proverbs 17:27–28 (NIV) says, “The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered. Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent and, discerning if they hold their tongues.” Our culture would greatly improve if we took this wisdom to heart. We have come to value the quantity of new ideas and their popularity rather than their quality.

Will Rogers said, “Never miss a good chance to shut up.” Lewis Carroll, in his famous novel Alice in Wonderland, wrote, “‘Really, now you ask me,’ said Alice, very much confused, ‘I don’t think——’ ‘Then you shouldn’t talk,’ said the Hatter.” And Leonardo DaVinci once said, “Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.”

There are many wonderful quotes from intelligent, creative people about the great value of remaining silent. Why then are we tempted to fill our lives with the sounds and noise of this world?

All that is not music is silence

If we want to find more of heaven on earth, maybe we should heed the wisdom of the biblical proverb. We can use our words with restraint, measuring our wisdom by the moments we remain silent. We can choose to “be still and know” who God is. Or, as Will Rogers said, “Never miss the good chance to shut up.”

There is a lot of power in learning to discern the noise of this world from the voice that God has placed within us through his Holy Spirit. Jesus comforted his disciples with the words in John 14:26 saying, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

If Jesus were sitting next to you right now, he might want to ask you, “How often do you consult the Holy Spirit during your day?” He might remind us that “his thoughts are not our thoughts.” He might want to encourage us by reminding us that we have a Helper.

The noise of earth will fade to silence

I don’t think there are very many things in heaven that will remind us of earth. The sounds, the smells, and the comforts of heaven cannot exist in the imperfections and noise of this world. I began typing this article with only the sounds of the birds as I enjoyed the morning quiet. Now, as I finish my thoughts, I can hear the increased traffic on the road outside. I heard the trashmen come, and I need to bring the can up from the street. My phone has interrupted my work three times since I began. That said, the birds are still singing in the trees. I’m still on my patio, enjoying some time to listen and type for God’s purpose.

I agree with Meister Eckhart, who wrote, “The very best and utmost attainment in this life is to remain still and let God act and speak in thee.” The sun is chasing me off my patio right now, but if I’m smart, I will take the blessed silence of this morning with me throughout this day.

How will you keep the noise of this world at bay today? How will you pursue the music and silence of heaven? For now, silence can draw us into the music of God’s voice. One day, we will know all the sounds of heaven as we live undistracted lives in God’s presence.

And all these birds around me are saying, “Amen to that!”

Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash

What has become spiritually obsolete?

“He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.” —Daniel 2:21

My husband sent me an article about popular products from the 1960’s that are now obsolete. I used some of the items listed when I worked at some of my first jobs. Here is the list of those products:

  • Typewriters
  • Rotary phones
  • Carbon paper
  • Phone books
  • Adding machines
  • To their list, I would add the once-and-absolute-necessity Rolodex.

My husband and I enjoy wandering antique stores and often comment on how the things we used and enjoyed years ago are now considered “retro” or “antique.” On the other hand, if we experience a technology apocalypse, our generation’s obsolete stuff will come in handy! 

What has become obsolete in your church?

  • The Sunday statistics board. There used to be a board at the exit from the worship service that showed how many people attended Sunday School, how much was given in the offering, and how many were in worship that day. That board required some volunteer church members each Sunday to gather the envelopes, count heads, count money, and, of course, drink coffee during the Sunday School and worship hours. Then came the “mega church,” which made this board obsolete.
  • The nosy offering envelopes that offered weekly accountability. We used to get mailed these offering envelopes that asked us to check boxes that said: “Read my Bible daily,” “attended Sunday School,” “Attended worship,” “Shared my faith with someone,” and “Gave my offering.” They should have included a box that said, “And I didn’t fudge my answers on any of these boxes.” 
  • Church programs? Some churches still produce weekly printed programs, but most use screens to display announcements and guide the worship service.
  • The need to bring a Bible to worship. The Scripture for the day is usually on the screens or available on our phones and tablets. If our Sunday school teacher is tech-savvy, we have it on a screen in Sunday School as well. The need to locate the book of Amos in short order has greatly diminished. (I say that as a preacher’s wife who purchased a Bible with the tabs because I was greatly embarrassed one week to be the LAST one in my pew still flipping the pages of my Bible as I desperately searched for the book of Amos! That memory STILL haunts me!)
  • Lastly, what about our great need to be living a witness of biblical truth and living with that truth as our spiritual authority?

What has quietly become spiritually obsolete for living a biblical witness?

Have we included some areas of biblical truth in the same category as typewriters and carbon paper? In other words, are there some things Christians believed and taught in the sixties that we know still exist, but we have obsoleted them from our normal, daily lives?

  • When was the last time you counseled a young person, possibly a family member, that sex apart from marriage is a sin? (Hebrews 13:4)
  • When was the last time you considered your tithe as an option? (Malachi 3:10)
  • When last did you explain to an unbeliever that only those who believe in Christ have the hope of an eternal life with God instead of an eternity in hell? (John 14:6)
  • Have you ever believed that abortion was the better solution or enabled an abortion for someone you love? (Psalm 139:13–16)
  • Have you quietly grown accustomed to seeing two people of the same gender act as if their sexual relationship should be celebrated? (Romans 1:26–27)
  • Have you allowed your talk to become slanderous, tarnished, or unloving? Have you allowed your silence to give approval to things God cannot approve? (Ephesians 4:31–32)

My point was to step on ALL of our toes a bit, mine included. Satan’s hand has been on the dimmer switch for decades now. He has learned to take his time so that our eyes can adjust gradually to the growing spiritual weakness in our lives and in our culture. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” but the reverse is true as well.

Some timeless wisdom from C.S. Lewis

Normally, I use Scripture for us to consider. I included the Scripture passages above for that purpose. For today, I have a different suggestion. C.S. Lewis wrote a book called The Screwtape Letters, first published in 1942, and it has never left our bookstores. At least it hasn’t become obsolete yet. That said, I rarely hear it quoted these days. I plan to reread the book this summer. It isn’t just food for thought; it’s a feast. 

Consider these important words of advice from Screwtape to his servant about how to influence the world. Screwtape is the name Lewis used for Satan, and the following quotes are his advice from Lewis’ timeless, important book. 

“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,…Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.”

“It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.”

“Suspicion often creates what it suspects.”

“Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is finding his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him.”

“A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all—and more amusing.”

Will you consider C.S. Lewis for your summer reading?

If you feel like some of your spiritual resolve has been obsoleted, consider adding books like Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, or The Chronicles of Narnia to your summer reading list. It will be impossible to read and ponder these profound books without being changed. 

If we have chosen a “moderated religion” in order to fit the current standards of our culture, have we chosen something that is “no religion at all”? We don’t want to be “amusing” to Satan; we want to be pleasing to God. The apostle Paul wrote, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10).

The need for spiritual servants will never be obsolete in God’s kingdom. Let’s give our lives a spiritual tune-up this summer by considering the timeless wisdom of C.S. Lewis. He has a unique way of pointing our hearts and minds toward God.

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Heavenly minded or earthly good?

Many people have requoted or rephrased Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.’s famous statement: “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good.” You can follow this link if you are curious about Holmes himself, but suffice it to say, the man was brilliant. That said, his now famous quote misses the mark.

I couldn’t discover the context for Holmes’ quote but did read in the Wikipedia article that his father was a minister and hoped his son would follow him into the ministry. Oliver’s dad enrolled him in the Phillips Academy to spend a year in theological training. Holmes changed schools a year later describing the professors at the academy as having “bigoted, narrow-minded, uncivilized” attitudes. It’s possible his years there contributed to his famous statement about people being so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good. It’s also possible that Holmes believed himself to have a superior intellect to those who taught biblical truth.

C.S. Lewis didn’t agree with Oliver Wendell Holmes

Ten years after the death of Oliver Wendell Holmes, another brilliant man was born. He, like Holmes, was considered a literary scholar and gifted author. C.S. Lewis is famous for becoming a brilliant theologian as well. 

While Holmes said, “Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good,” C.S. Lewis had very different thoughts. Lewis’ book Mere Christianity was published in 1952 and is considered to be a literary and theological classic. It continues to be a best seller in Christian apologetics today. My husband Jim has often jokingly said, “I’m pretty sure no one can get into heaven until they read Mere Christianity” (Although when he reads this blog post he might tell me, “I’m not joking!”). Everyone who knows my husband, also a brilliant mind, knows he is a HUGE fan of Mere Christianity. 

Lewis has very different ideas from Oliver Wendell Holmes about being “heavenly minded.” In Mere Christianity Lewis said, “If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this: Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.”

Lewis taught Christians that the most important way to be of earthly value was to be heavenly minded. Lewis points to world history to make his point, not his own intellect, as amazing as it was. C.S. Lewis died the same day that JFK was assassinated in Dallas. His death passed almost without notice because of the news. In many ways I’m reminded of the verse that says in heaven, “The last shall be first and the first shall be last.” Earth lost a president the same day heaven gained a theological genius.

How heavenly minded do you choose to be?

I took a break while typing this blog post to go get my mom from her assisted living and take her to a cemetery that is just up the road from our home in Tyler. We sat on a bench labeled “Croswhite-Denison” and looked at the grave marker with my parents’ names. Dad passed away in July of 2016 and my mom is eighty-seven and slowing down. Jim and I purchased four plots side by side, and I began the process of having my dad’s remains moved from Dallas to his spot here in Tyler.

I enjoy thinking of my dad fishing in his heavenly boat on a breathtaking lake in heaven with St. Peter. Dad loved fishing and went every chance he could. I can’t know what heaven will be like, I just know it is perfect. My dad, fishing in that boat, would be his idea of perfect. 

I sat next to Mom on the bench that marks Dad’s burial place, and one day, will mark hers and ours. It is easy to think about heaven as I sit typing this blog post. My thoughts aren’t sad, they are hopeful. It will hurt to lose my mom one day, but there is joy knowing I’m just handing her to Jesus. I’ll see my parents again, in heavenly bodies that won’t decay and enjoying heavenly moments that will never end.

We need to be heavenly minded so that we can be filled with the hope that is our future reality in heaven. We need to be heavenly minded so that we make earthly choices that will be blessed eternally. We need to be heavenly minded so that we can do the most “earthly good” possible. Heavenly minded will help us to be Spirit-led on earth.

Earthly good from a heavenly mind.

Whenever I think of being heavenly minded I think of Philippians 4:8 that says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8). 

Paul wrote his letter to the prosperous Roman colony of Philippi while under house arrest in Rome. He knew it wasn’t an easy life for the Christians in that city, and Paul wanted them to have joy, regardless of their circumstances. Christians today have a lot in common with those Philippian Christians as well as many Christians throughout history who have wrongly been labeled, “bigoted, narrow-minded, uncivilized.” 

There has never been a time in world history that Christians weren’t being persecuted somewhere. Open Doors reports that “More than 365 million (one in seven) Christians face high levels of persecution for their faith – and persecution is becoming dangerously violent in countries on the World Watch List. Attacks on churches and Christian properties sky-rocketed in 2023 as more Christians than ever faced violent attacks.”

With all the world’s rhetoric these days, we have a great need to be “heavenly minded.” Look again at the things Paul taught us to think about and then obey Paul’s admonishment. Think on those things. The earthly good you will do this week can be the product of your heavenly mind, filled with the heavenly thoughts you choose to think about. 

C.S. Lewis said, “Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.” What will you aim towards today? Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

Oliver Wendell Holmes is often quoted, but his words are not fully true. Jesus taught his disciples what C.S. Lewis taught in Mere Christianity. The best way to accomplish earthly good is to live heavenly minded. Seek God as your King, seek to be filled by his righteousness, and you will have it all, now and in heaven.