The reason the aim determines whether a desire is real,
feigned, or deceitful is that our purpose is our very life.
What we live for—in other words, what we love—is what
we hold as our goal. When the welfare of our neighbor,
the larger community, the church, and the Lord’s kingdom forms our goal, our soul dwells in the Lord’s kingdom
and therefore in the Lord. The Lord’s kingdom is nothing
other than a kingdom of purposes and usefulness seeking the good of the whole human race. Even the angels
who attend us concern themselves only with our goals.
So far as our ultimate goal matches that of the Lord’s
kingdom, the angels delight in us and bind themselves to
us as their sisters or brothers. So far as we make ourselves
the ultimate goal, though, the angels withdraw and evil
spirits from hell move closer. The people in hell have no
other goal.
—Secrets of Heaven 3796:4
