If I Gained the World

If I gained the world but lost the Saviour,
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 Saviour,
Would my gain be worth the life-long strife?
Are all earthly pleasures worth comparing
For a moment with a Christ-filled life?

Had I wealth and love in fullest measure,
And a name revered both far and near,
Yet no hope beyond, no harbour waiting
Where my storm-tossed vessel I could steer-
If I gained the world, but lost the Saviour,
Who endured the cross and died for me,
Could then all the world afford a refuge,
Whither in my anguish I might flee?

O what emptiness without the Saviour,
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 Saviour,
When I come to die, how would it be?
O to face the valley's gloom without Him!
And without Him all eternity!

O the joy of having all in Jesus!
What a balm the broken heart to heal!
Ne're a sin so great but He'll forgive it
Nor a sorrow that He does not feel!
If I have but Jesus, only Jesus,
Nothing else in all the world beside
O then everything is mine in Jesus-
For my needs and more He will provide.

-Anna Olander