In the future life God will be all in all

Regarding the future life, the Lord said that there they do not marry, nor are given in marriage, that is, there will be no place for earthly ties; there will be no place, that is, for the ordinances of earthly life. There will be no sciences, no arts, no governments, and nothing of the like. But what will it be? God will be all in all, and since God is spirit, unites with spirit, and works spiritually, the whole life there will be a continuous series of spiritual movements.

From this one thing emerges: since our goal is the future life, and life here is only a preparation for it, to live all our life only for what is suitable only here and has no place in the future life, means going against our purpose and preparing for ourselves a bitter, unspeakably bitter fate for the future.

I do not mean that we must now abandon all earthly pursuits, but that, while working as much as is necessary for this life, our chief concern must be preparation for the next, striving, as much as we can, to transform even the most miserable earthly labors into means to achieve this goal.

Saint Theophan the Recluse

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