Everything you had struggled to gain

(Newman Hall, "The Choice of Moses" 1867) Christian, what is the value of all that which you relinquish to follow Christ? Grant all that may be urged in its favor. Let money, and luxury, and fame, and power, and the pleasures of sin in their fairest forms and largest measure, be combined in one great mountain of attractive fascination; and the question arises, "How long will all this last?" You know the story of the Eastern king, one of whose courtiers, surveying the magnificence, flatteringly asked, "What is lacking here?" The monarch replied, with a sigh, "Continuance." Yes! a worm is hidden in the loveliest blossom, a serpent creeps amid the fairest flowers, the wealthiest summer beckons winter frosts, and the longest and the brightest days close in night. Of what avail is it to say, "Soul, you have plenty of good things laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry;" when the message is given, "This night your soul shall be required of you!" What will be your remorse at death if you shall have chosen, as your chief portion, that which thus perishes? How terrible to find everything you had struggled to gain slipping from your grasp . . .    money,   luxuries,   position,   power,   learning,   fame; all retreating and leaving you alone! Was it for this you refused the enduring riches, and the endless delights of piety? Alas! what multitudes in the unseen world now regret, when it is too late, so mad a choice! What to them is every remembrance of the pleasures of sin, but fuel added to the fire of their remorse? "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward." Hebrews 11:24-26 link