But A Moment

I wish I didn’t have to die

But if Jesus tarries I must

So I must prepare to leave here

After all of the hoorah and fuss.

There’s just one way we come

But several in which we go

But why am I telling you this

When you already know?

We do not know the time

We have on this terrestrial plain

But however short or long it is

It is a mix of pleasure and pain.

There are the highs and lows

The joys and the sorrows,

The certainty of the present

And the uncertainty of tomorrow.

There’re many valleys to traverse

And many mountains to climb,

Some memories will be fleeting

And some will cling to the mind.

A sordid mix we’ll encounter

But many precious souls too

And depending on the imbalance,

This could shape our worldview.

A tilt towards a creative God

Or an incline towards evolution,

A hope when this life has passed

Or nothingness and dissolution.

We agree, whatever our worldview

That we are not here forever

But however long our sojourn,

The best should be our endeavour.

An uplifting philosophy is necessary

And not the poisonous type,

A compassionate, caring individual

And not of mere emotional hype.

  

Demonstrating the love of Christ

And not given to promissory talk,

But following the example of Jesus

And engaging a meaningful walk.

This present life is but a moment

A very fleeting moment at that

And relative to all of time,

This should be an obvious fact.

From the cradle to the grave

That’s the journey initiated at birth

And though a few reach one hundred,

We all go the way of the earth.

An inevitable return to the dust

The material from which we came,

The end of life as we now know it

Interred in the nether domain.

Awaiting a coming resurrection

Of both the saved and the lost:

The former would have died in Christ

The latter forsook the cross.

One’s life may be just a moment

A mere dot on the segment of time

But one’s eternal destiny is settled

Depending on the state of one’s mind.

A mind that was set on Christ

Or one that was decidedly otherwise:

The former to everlasting paradise

The latter to his eternal demise.

Life is a moment to procure salvation  

An opportunity to come to Christ,

A chance to accept God’s saving grace

And Christ substitutionary sacrifice.

Dying for the saint is a gateway

At the end of our sojourn here

And the joy of this present life

Cannot be compared to the joy over there.

Stewart Russell © August 2018