The book of Proverbs calls a person who lives an immoral life a fool. Both believers and unbelievers can be fools. 

I recently read a quote attributed to someone who falls into that category. Mae West, an actress who lived before my time (perhaps some folks who are even older than me will remember her!), pushed the limits of sexual expression and was considered quite risqué. She often used double entendres. For example, she is well-known for saying, “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” 

That can be taken in different ways. It could be interpreted as an encouragement to young people to make their lives count. People should work hard and live in such a way that they will not be ashamed when their lives are over. 

But based on Mae West’s reputation, she meant something else. I imagine the press laughed when she said this. The men in the audience probably snickered. The underlying meaning was understood. 

She was promoting a hedonistic lifestyle. Her point was that we have only one life, so we should experience as much pleasure as possible. Grab it while you can. Live your life in such a way that there’ll be no regrets at the end. There are plenty of opportunities for sexual and other carnal pleasures. We might only live seventy years or so, but that’s long enough to have a wide variety of such experiences. If you do, you’ll die a happy person. She insinuated that she lived her life that way and was speaking from experience.  

Proverbs says that only a fool would adopt that philosophy of life. But West’s words could also come from the lips of a very wise person with a very different meaning in mind. Those words could be the motto of a faithful believer. 

I once heard someone say that this life is the only opportunity believers will ever have to serve the Lord voluntarily. When we are in His presence, we will not be able to sin. We will be like the angels in that we will serve Him with complete devotion. That is our life in the future if we have believed in Jesus for eternal life. 

But what will we do with the life we’re living right now? The life we’re living right now is the only time in all of eternity when we’ll have a choice. We only live once, as West said. In light of eternity, what is a lifespan of seventy years or so? That seems insignificant. How can what we do with our lives make any difference? 

Biblically speaking, her statement is true, though not in the way she meant. If we do it right, one brief lifetime is enough. If we faithfully serve the Lord during the time we are given— however much that time may be—our works will impact eternity. The years we have are sufficient. Those years of service will be greatly rewarded (Mark 8:35–36). 

Our lives matter. West understood that, but in a twisted way. The Scriptures also tell us that our lives matter. What we do for the King matters. It doesn’t matter how brief our lives may be. We only have one life, but if we use it for Him, one is enough.