"If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."
1 Corinthians 15:19
I love here that he talks about "this life" because clearly that means there is at least one more life, and from modern day revelation we know that there was one before this as well. I mean, all one life in a way, because we are still ourselves... our souls are the same... but you could probably even divide it up into 4-5 lives:
--Premortal existence -- we don't know much about this, but we know about the war in heaven where people chose between the Father's plan with Christ as Savior and Satan's plan to abandon free will.
--Mortal existence (that's where we are now)
--Spiritual existence -- this is after death, but before resurrection. We know from Christ's visit to the Spirit World that the gospel is preached there as well, so we know there is still choice and change during this time, but we also know that without a body those choices and actions are limited.
--Millenial existence ... we don't have a lot of insight into this either, but it seems like at least some people will be resurrected and get a chance to live again during this time, getting chances that they never had in the previous and much more imperfect mortal world. Other people will not be resurrected until the final judgement, after the Millenium (Revelation 20:5).
--Eternity in a kingdom of glory / Heaven
Other lives doesn't mean that we can be careless with the one we are living now, or that we shouldn't work to make it the best life and best world we can... of course. I think though that it does offer a lot of hope that God has provided ample time for him to keep his word and to right all the wrongs and make up for all the injustices we all might experience. Even if we have wasted a lot of our lives, or we have limited time in this mortal realm, it is not too late... there is SO much life left to us. It is always worth it to repent and change and work towards God now, because even the very end of this life could be our door into a much better eternity. Today, let's work towards a good eternity AND a good life, and make sure those goals are working together rather than conflicting.
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