We might think that virtue is necessary only for this present life –
that in the other world we could stop being just because there is nothing to quarrel about
and stop being brave because there is no danger.
Now it is quite true that there will probably be no occasion for just or courageous acts in the next world,
but there will be every occasion for being the sort of people that we can become
only as a result of doing such acts here.
The point is not that God will refuse you admission to His eternal world
if you have not got certain qualities of character:
The point is that if people have not got at least the beginnings of those qualities inside them,
then no possible external conditions could make a “Heaven” for them –
that is, could make them happy with the deep, strong, unshakable kind of happiness
God intends for us.
C.S. Lewis
