How can someone be so content as to look forward to the end of life?

on Mar 25, 2026

From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Q: My parents have lived a full and quiet life, outliving most of their family and friends. I’m troubled when I visit them because they keep talking about Heaven and look forward to it. I’m a religious person, but I’m not obsessed with going to Heaven because it means death. How can they be so content to the point of actually looking forward to the end of life? Isn’t this wrong? – H.H.

A: If we as Christians never yearn for Heaven, it may mean we’ve become too satisfied, or too preoccupied, with our lives right now! Being in Heaven means being in the presence of the Lord and Savior. Whether good times or tough times, believers focus on Heaven because of the hope we have in Christ Jesus. 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.

Heaven, for those who have lived for Christ, is our eternal home, and many times we grow homesick for Heaven. A tug at our souls is homesickness coupled with anticipation. It might be in God’s sovereignty that He 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.”

The Apostle Paul, who knew what it was to suffer, discovered this truth in his own life: “The things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18, NKJV). We shouldn’t allow the fear of death to distract us, but rather we must keep our eyes firmly fixed on what God has promised at the end of the journey: Heaven itself. We can take comfort in knowing that our loved ones who belong to the Lord look forward to being in His eternal presence. We can make it our personal hope as well.

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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)