“Living is hard,” a thoughtful 14-year-old student of mine once told me . . .

We were in Bible class at a private school where I work as a substitute teacher, discussing eternal life. She had just realized that after death, which the Bible describes as “sleep,” it will be almost as if she’d never stopped living. The moment we fall asleep will seem connected immediately with when we wake. Surprisingly, she didn’t seem thrilled by this truth.

Many would grasp onto living longer as a precious gift of more time. You probably agree, since life is full—usually too full. I’m always wishing I could fit in another good deed or worthwhile accomplishment. But the limit to our life-span also motivates us to accomplish things. Imagine, given endless tomorrows, if we’d ever buckle down and do something today.

We know that eternal life in God’s Kingdom will not be like our present life in the flesh. The plan of God describes a first resurrection, a Millennium, a Great White Throne judgment and then a time when all of those who have turned to God are blessed to live as eternal spirit beings in the New Jerusalem. We know few details about that distant eternal life, but we do know that it will be a world of good, and only good, because it is designed and managed by a loving Almighty God. There will be no war, or pain or sorrow when God the Father gives His family the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 21:4). But today in our world, so many people suffer in hunger, oppression, disease and war because of sin and because this is Satan’s world.

But for a young person in a prosperous country, those aren’t the things making life hard. It’s the daily expectations of attending school, chores, making future decisions, and getting along with friends. For a sincere Christian young person, there is a duty to living life right that can feel like a tremendous burden. What if I make a mistake and ruin my life? How will I make a living? Will I ever meet someone I can marry? Anxiety seems like a constant companion.

We wouldn’t want to live an eternal life in fleshly bodies, and we also cannot live an eternal life with a carnal mind. Today we willfully insist that we are right. We desire selfish activities rather than delayed gratification. We worry about the future. These would be poor companions in eternity. We feel burdened because of our internal struggle to choose right over wrong.

Living eternally will only be pleasurable because our minds will completely be like the mind of God the Father and Jesus Christ. Because of God fully in us, we will completely fulfill the will of God, always and perfectly. Consider some of our future tasks. We’ll work alongside and be under the leadership of other spirit beings. Most likely we will also be working with the angelic realm. Cooperative work, such as a group project, can be the most challenging type of work today. But as spirit beings in God’s Kingdom, we will have no conflict. We will know perfectly how to present our requests in the best possible way. We will be willing to submit to others’ ideas and not desire recognition. Amazing but true!

It’s hard for us to see the strength that comes from suffering or be content not knowing why events happen to us. It can seem that others intentionally cause hurt. We often feel that others want to see us fail or put us down unjustly. It will be so much different at the end of the third resurrection, when all those who have submitted to God are spirit beings in the Kingdom of God. Notice this in Revelation 21:4-5: “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’”

Those with God’s Holy Spirit today overlook offenses, and as spirit beings in the Kingdom of God no one in eternity can ever sin. There is so much to look forward to because of God. God will emerge victorious over sin by changing each of our minds and hearts. When the entire family of God has the mind of God and is fully a part of His eternal family—life will no longer be hard. Life will be ever so much easier than what we face in this physical life. There will be no comparison!