Life at best is very brief

1
Life at best is very brief,
Like the falling of a leaf,
Like the binding of a sheaf,
    Be in time!
Fleeting days are telling fast
That the die will soon be cast,
And the fatal line be passed,
    Be in time!
  Be in time! Be in time!
While the voice of Jesus calls you,
  Be in time!
If in sin you longer wait,
You may find no open gate,
And your cry be just too late:
    Be in time!
2
Fairest flowers soon decay,
Youth and beauty pass away;
O you have not long to stay,
    Be in time!
While God’s Spirit bids you come,
Sinner, do not longer roam,
Lest you seal your hopeless doom,
    Be in time!
3
Time is gliding swiftly by,
Death and judgment draweth nigh,
To the arms of Jesus fly,
    Be in time!
O I pray you count the cost!
Ere the fatal line be crossed,
And your soul in hell be lost,
    Be in time!
4
Sinner, heed the warning voice,
Make the Lord your final choice,
Then all heaven will rejoice,
    Be in time!
Come from darkness into light;
Come, let Jesus make you right;
Come, receive His life tonight,
    Be in time!
47
Gordon Moore

Millisle, Down N. Ireland, United Kingdom

I was humming this tune today and could only remember some of the words. What a blessing to know that I'm saved and in time. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. GOD IS LOVE.


Ruth Chadi Samuel

Lagos, State, Nigeria

What a joy to belong to the family of Christ.

I new this song in the early 80's as a young child.

I grew up and became a choir member till date.

I can as well sing it in the Hausa language. If you do not have Christ, you are heading to doom. No two ways about it.

It's really a song with sober reflection to the very day I accepted Christ as my Lord and personal Savior.

Life is very very brief.......


Stanley

Calicut, Kerala, India

It's a beautiful song which I learned in my childhood, that is somewhere in the early 1950s. Thanks.


Margaret Olusolape Jemilugba

Akure, Ondo, Nigeria

"Life at best is very brief" I remember this song tonight as I ponder over the sudden call to glory of Brother Peter Yidawi, the General Secretary of Fellowship of Christian Nurses, Nigeria. I sang this song as a member of the Joint Campus Choir in the university in the 70s during mission outreach at beginning of new sessions during altar calls. Very heart rendering! Thank God I got all the stanzas on the Internet and I sang as in the days of old. Lord keep me faithful till the end!


Crimson Jebakumar

Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, India

In June 1978, a gospel meeting was arranged in the TB hospital, Asaripallam, Nagercoil. I was a young boy, watching my father playing the organ and the drummer. Bro. Antipas preached the word of God and this was the core song of the sermon and he preached on the vanity of life on earth but the eternal salvation through Jesus Christ. I have seen many TB patients accepted Jesus as their Saviour. Many would have died later but one day we can meet in the Lord's presence. This song was sung twice in the beginning and the end and it was so touching. Caleb Annan's voice was superb at that time.


Olufemi Omole

Kano, Nigeria

I first sang this song over 30 years ago, it came to my mind now and searching the Internet found it with piano accompaniment. The song really challenged me as a Christian and expectations of life after. I pray sincerely to be in time while the voice of Jesus calls.


Yinka

Lagos, Nigeria

I just woke up from a dream where I was in a congregation singing this hymn. I sang it first in my secondary school as a young convert in 1971. I was 12 going on 13 then. Now in my 54th year to be 55 in a few months I appreciate God's mercy and grace that saved me. Such a lovely song deep in my subconscious as I haven't sung it in years. Now just waking from that dream and searching out the song on the Internet and discovering this instrumental accompaniment moves me to tears. Thank You Lord Jesus for saving me.


Lisa

Abuja, FCT, Nigeria

First heard the hymn in 1992, when I was 5, it happened to be Dad's favourite. He stays awake all night playing and keeping it on re-play, then sits us down to explain the words the next morning. Guess I was too young to comprehend the meaning, but now that I'm 26, I'm pushed to tears when I finally sang it word for word last night. God bless His church and saints. AMEN.


Ken Rystead

Delta, B.C., Canada

I first heard this hymn at The wst Richmond Gospel Hall in 1973 when was newly saved.

It tells it all. Be in time is the message and that means, NOW.

It is my favourite gospel hymn and as my beest friend Wayne Guindon says, it is the best hymn I ever heard in my whole life.


Oghale Olugua

Emede, Delta, Nigeria

I heard this song in 1971 as we learnt it in the Choir at the Evangelical Christian Union of the University of Benin, Benin city, Nigeria; under Sister NWAKA MBA. I have been blessed with its timeless TRUTH of responding to GOD'S CALL whenever we hear GOD'S VOICE, audibly or as a STILL SMALL VOICE. Indecision, delay or rejection is suicidal. So, my humble plea to anyone hearing these words is: BE IN TIME. For, the sweet nothingness of life is so insignificantly brief in comparison to the JOY of ETERNITY with GOD.