Rav Avigdor Miller on Working For Olam Habah

A:

Good question. If Hashem can do anything, so why doesn’t He give us the world to come without necessitating our working for it?

Now, although it’s a good question but that doesn’t mean we’re capable of giving good answers to it. But the seforim do give an answer; they say that when you are born into a wealthy home – let’s say, lehavdil, Henry Ford’s son. He was born into a wealthy home after his father had already become a millionaire. And because of that, when the son walked through the father’s estate, his heart didn’t sing within him because it wasn’t really his own. He wasn’t happy about it.

But Henry Ford, when he walked through his backyard, he was happy.  His heart sang within him because everything that he had, he had earned with his own hands! Of course, we know it wasn’t his own hands, but that’s how he felt. He was able to show the people, ”I built this! I took this little factory where I started, and I parlayed it into a great company.” And therefore he appreciated every detail because he didn’t have it before and he had gained it with his own hard work. 

Anything that you gain by your own efforts is much more precious to you, and therefore if you earn Olam Habah then you’re going to walk in those green pastures of Olam Habah and you’ll view your rolling meadows and your beautiful mansions with much more happiness, because you know that you built it up with your own efforts. You withstood the ordeals of this world and gained perfection by means of your own hands.

Whereas, if we would go to the next world without any effort, we wouldn’t begin to appreciate it. That’s human nature; what you have without work is meaningless to you.  And so, that’s one of the reasons.
TAPE # 154