This is something you hear quite often. It carries the message that life is short and then is over, so you might as well have fun and enjoy it while you can. There is nothing new about this idea. In the Old Testament, in Isaiah, we read:
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
Isa. 22:13.
When people say this, it might be in fun, telling people to have a good time and to enjoy themselves. Certainly there is nothing wrong in itself with having a good time. On the other hand, if someone lives with the belief that life in this world is all there is, and so enjoys it as much as possible, then there is a problem, a deep problem.
There are a lot of people who believe that life in this world is all there is. With such a belief, life becomes relatively pointless. If someone seeks as much enjoyment as possible before ceasing to exist, how shallow this enjoyment must be! It is mere pleasure barely covering over a sense of hopelessness, and even dread.
The truth is far, far happier!
The truth is far, far happier! We were created by God in a miraculous way. He gives us life. He does this because He loves us. And because He loves us, He will not withdraw life from us. Because He is, and because He is eternal, we will never die. And in this sense, in a very different sense, we do only live once. This life, the only one we have, the only one we need, continues forever. It will continue on the other side. Our earthly bodies may die, but our life does not end. As we read in a book by Swedenborg:
In order that I might know that people live after death, it has been given me to speak and be in company with many who were known to me during their life in the body; and this not merely for a day or a week, but for months, and almost a year, speaking and associating with them just as in this world. They wondered exceedingly that while they lived in the body they were, and that very many others are, in such incredulity as to believe that they will not live after death; when in fact scarcely a day intervenes after the death of the body before they are in the other life; for death is a continuation of life.
Heavenly Secrets, 70. Emphasis added.
It is because we have only one life, a life that continues to eternity after death, that we need to do more than enjoy ourselves while we live here on earth. Life here is but a preparation for a life that will continue forever. We need to turn to the Lord. We need to learn to do what He commands. We must work on avoiding what is selfish and wrong. We should be of service to other people. We will live forever, and so it is so important that we prepare so that this life will be one of happiness and joy in the world to come.