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Originally Posted by Tedmil
Suppose two souls enter heaven. By God's will the two souls had extreme routes in life. One grew up poor, struggled in life, often hungry, had no friends or family, faced many hardships and generally suffered their entire life. While the other was born with money, had many opportunities and varied experiences, had many friends, had a happy marriage with a loving family, and generally had what most would call a great life.
During the next eternity, would there be any differences in what the souls experience in heaven based on how their lives went? The soul who had a richer life, with extended friends and family would they necessary have a richer experience in heaven being reunited with all the people they had ties during life?
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I think the experience of the souls in Heaven depends mostly on what lies in their hearts and how they live their lives as oppose to what blessings or challenges that they may have encountered while on Earth.
For instance, let's say the 1st soul suffered many hardships such as what you mentioned, but they tend to turn away from God because they felt that everything is unfair and they are ungrateful for what they do have. They harbor feelings of envy, jealousy, resentment towards those who have more than them. Instead of utilizing their hardship to transform into a deeper faith and relationship with God, they ended up becoming hardened and bitter. Because of such negativity, they are unable to store their "treasures" in Heaven.
On the contrary, if the 2nd soul live a life of privilege and recognizes their immense blessings is a gift from God, they may choose to use their blessings and devote their life to assisting others. They feel that their blessings is a gift from God and not a right and that they should use their abilities and power to help those less fortunate than them. They experience a profound gratitude, not merely because of their material wealth and good fortune, but also because of their connection to God.
In this scenario, when these two souls enter Heaven, who do you think have more Heavenly treasures stored? The one with envy and resentment in their heart or the one with gratitude and compassion?
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal..." Matthew 6:19-20