96. If I Gained the World but Lost the Savior

10.9.10.9.D.
1
If I gained the world but lost the Savior,
 
Were my life worth living for a day?
 
Could my yearning heart find rest and comfort
 
In the things that soon must pass away?
 
If I gained the world, but lost the Savior,
 
Would my gain be worth the toil and strife?
 
Are all earthly treasures worth comparing
 
With the gift of God, eternal life?
2
Had I wealth and love in fullest measure,
 
With a name renowned both far and near,
 
Yet no hope beyond, no harbor waiting,
 
Where my storm-tossed vessel I could steer;
 
If I gained the world, but lost the Savior,
 
Who endured the cross and died for me,
 
Could then all the world afford a refuge
 
Whither in my anguish I might flee?
3
Oh, what emptiness — without the Savior
 
Mid the sins and sorrows here below!
 
And eternity, how dark without Him — 
 
Only night and tears and endless woe!
 
What though I might live without the Savior,
 
When I come to die, how would it be?
 
Oh, to face the valley’s gloom without Him!
 
And without Him for eternity!
4
Oh, the joy of having all in Jesus!
 
What a balm the broken heart to heal!
 
Ne’er a sin so great, but He can cleanse it,
 
Not a sorrow that He does not feel!
 
If I have but Jesus, only Jesus,
 
Nothing else in all the world beside — 
 
Oh, then everything is mine in Jesus;
 
For my needs and more He will provide.
Echoes of Grace Hymnbook Index