This answer was written by Billy Graham, who went to his Heavenly home on February 21, 2018.
Q: Is it Wrong to Yearn for Heaven?
No, it isn’t wrong. In fact, if we never yearn for Heaven, it may mean we’ve become too satisfied, or too preoccupied with our lives right now!
It’s easy to become so overwhelmed with our problems that we focus only on what is happening to us at the moment. But they ought to make us focus instead on Heaven and on the hope we have because of Christ. The Lord is with us through our sufferings, and He awaits us as we emerge on the other side of the tunnel of testing—into the light of His glorious presence to live with Him forever.
Remember: Heaven is our true home, and many times we grow homesick for Heaven—especially in the midst of the sin, sufferings, and sorrows of this life. There is a tug at our souls that is homesickness coupled with anticipation.
I often wonder if God, in His sovereignty, allows our eyesight to cast a dim view of the here and now so that we may focus our spiritual eyes on the ever-after. Paul, who knew what it was to suffer, discovered this truth in his own life: “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18, NIV).
Don’t let the burdens and hardships of this life distract you or discourage you. Keep your eyes firmly fixed on what God has promised at the end of the journey: Heaven itself.