too many to list.” By comparison, “there are relatively few in the world.”
Well, I can think of a lot of useful professions in this world that won’t
be needed in the next: Insurance salesman. Realtor. Doctor. Car mechanic.
Pharmacist. Banker. Weather forecaster. Accountant. Stock broker. Pilot.
Exterminator. Credit card manager. Plumber. The list goes on and on. So what
are all these heavenly uses “too many to list”?
We aren’t told in any detail. But we know that heaven is a kingdom of uses
and that the happiness of heaven lies in doing what we love and serving the
Lord and fellow angels without any thought of reward. We are told in that same
number in Heaven and Hell that “everyone in heaven is engaged in his or her
work according to its correspondence, and the correspondence is not with the
work itself but with the use of the particular task.”
It is good just to know that every angel has a unique responsibility,
perfectly suited to his or her temperament. And all of these duties blend into a
perfect harmony for the common good.
Sounds like heaven to me.
(BMH)
why we long to be free
The desire for liberty is built into human nature because free is what God
created us to be. People seek political freedom for their nation in order to
make their home on earth more like heaven, the country of their souls.
All human progress is driven by a longing for freedom. What is the
perpetual quest for knowledge but an effort to escape the bonds of ignorance?
What is science but a search for ways to push back the limitations of time and
space and physical existence? What drives the economy except the desire to be
free from want? What is the pursuit of justice but an attempt to throw off the
oppression of injustice? What inspires the quest for peace but the wish to be
free from the strife of war? Why do we seek salvation except to be delivered
from hell?
The desire to be free is universal because the world was created by God for
the sake of a heaven from the human race. This is why we were endowed with
the faculty of free will, while other creatures are governed by instinct. Heaven
consists of a loving relationship with the Lord, and love can only be given and
reciprocated freely. To fulfill our destiny as human beings, therefore, we must
be free.
We love freedom for the simple reason that God loves us, and therefore
seeks oneness with us, which can only be achieved when we reciprocate His
love – freely.
(WEO)
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