True Riches

If I have but Jesus, only Jesus—nothing else in all the world beside, still I do possess all things in Jesus, all my needs and more He will provide.

1922 Walther League Messenger

The following poem is taken from the August-September 1922 issue of the Walther League Messenger, page 21.

If all things were mine, but not the Savior,
Were life then worth living for a day?
Could my yearning heart find rest and solace
Just in things that soon must pass away?
If all things were mine, but not the Savior,
Would that gain be worth a lifelong strife?
Is all earthly joy e’en worth comparing
With one moment of the Christ-filled life?

Had I wealth and love beyond all measure,
With a reverenced name both far and near,
Yet, without the hope of life eternal,
And my storm-tossed craft no harbor near;
If all things were mine, but not the Savior,
Who endured the Cross and died for me,
Could then all the world afford a refuge
Whither, in soul-anguish, I might flee?

Oh, what emptiness without the Savior
Midst all sin and sorrow here below,
And eternity-how dark without Him,
Only night and tears, an endless woe.
If I thus could 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 all eternity.

Oh! the joy, my all in all is Jesus,
Fragrant balm heart's every wound to heal.
Ne'er a sin so great He will not pardon,
Nor a sorrow that He does not feel.
If I have but Jesus, only Jesus—
Nothing else in all the world beside,
Still I do possess all things in Jesus,
All my needs and more He will provide.

The Lutheran Companion