Until You Die, Live

 

 

The most we can do before we die

Is live,

The least we can do while we live

Is to squander what God gives.

 

Optimally, He gives us life

It’s given for His good pleasure

And when we refuse to live for Him,

We lose its hidden treasure.

 

As an explorer digs for treasure

We must explore what God has given,

There is treasure enough to explore

Hence, stay clear of the forbidden.

 

The talk of death and dying-

Is an obsession more or less

It is robbing us of the opportunity

To enjoy whatever life is left.

  

Daily we die before we reach

Death’s inevitable destination,

Making a waste of the treasure of life

Merely contemplating life’s termination.

 

Until you die, live!

That is the whole purpose of life,

Let your existence be of value

Be a hero amidst this strife!

 

To what purpose is our death

When we have never even lived?

Soon, we are forgotten

Have wasted what God did give.

 

To die and not live

Is like having never been born,

Such an unenviable achievement

To me seems rather forlorn.

 

Not far removed from some

Merely awaiting Christ’s return

Rather than the passion for souls

That in our predecessors burned.

 

It is an expressly horrible thing

To die before we live

And allow the window of opportunity

To slip through us like a sieve.

 

 

Heavenly Father, this I pray,

Help me to appreciate all Your gifts,

Not least of all, this earthly life

Which is our greatest natural gift.

 

To use it as an investment

As an instrument from your hand,

To live for you until I die

In accordance with your plan.

 

Help me until I die to live

Knowing that death is just a sleep

And in my sojourn here below

Let it be a heavenly peep.

 

To occupy until you come

Is what you have ordered for us

So, before we die so let us live

That we may honour Jesus.

 

Amen

 

Stewart Russell © April 2020