If I Gained the World

1. If I gained the world, but had not Jesus,
Were my life worth iving 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 had not Jesus,
Would my gain be worth the life-long strife?
Are all earthly pleasures worth comparing
For a moment with a Christ-filled life?

2. Had I wealth and love in fullest measure,
And a name revered 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 had not Jesus,
Who endured the cross and died for me,
Could then all the world afford a refuge,
Whither, in my anguish I might flee?

3. O the joy of having all in Jesus!
What a balm the broken heart heal!
Ne'er a sin so great, but heal 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 ev'ry thing is mine in Jesus;
For my needs and more He will provide.

--Anna Olander