Meaning of a Hadith

Question:
What does the following hadith of Bukhari mean: "Live in this world as if you are on a journey ... and do while you are healthy for the time when your health will desert you and do while you are alive for the time when life will desert you."

Response:
To my understanding, this hadith is requiring the believer not to live in this world with a spirit that he is going to stay here forever. Since we are here for a short while, we must live here with that reality in mind or else we can neither prepare ourselves for the hereafter nor can we properly avoid many evils which stem out of exaggerated love for the worldly life.

One should do good acts that one can perform while one is healthy because ill-health would deprive us of doing many of them. Likewise, death would take away all opportunities of doing well, therefore we should perform well while we are alive.

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