I'd Rather Have Jesus
I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I'd
rather be His than have riches untold:
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands.
I'd
rather be led by His nail-pierced hand
I'd rather have Jesus than men's
applause;
I rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide
fame.
I'd rather be true to His holy name.
He's fairer than lilies of rarest
bloom;
He's sweeter than honey from out the comb;
He's all than my hungering
spirit needs.
I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead
Chorus:
Than to be the king of a vast
domain
Or be held in sin's dread sway.
I'd rather have Jesus than
anything
This world affords today.
BIBLE
REFERENCE:
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is
gain.
Philippians 1:21
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD,
choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on
the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me
and my house, we will serve the LORD.
Joshua 24:15
low me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and
followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and
John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And
they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.
Matthew 4:19-22
But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send
Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all
seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that,
as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.
Philippians 2:19-22
Mrs. Rhea F. Miller -
Lyrics
1894 - 1966
George Beverly Shea -
Composer
1909 -
Born: February 1, 1909, Winchester, Ontario, Canada.
HYMN
HISTORY:
George Beverly Shea was born into the home of fine
Christian parents in Winchester, Ontario, Canada, on February 1, 1909. His father was a faithful
minister of the gospel for the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and his mother was a strong spiritual and
musical influence in his life. As young George was growing up in parsonages in New York and New
Jersey, his friends and family became very much aware of his fine musical talents and full, resonant
voice.
He began to sing regularly in his father’s church as well as for services in other local
churches. Following high school, George attended Houghton College in New York during 1928-29, but
family financial problems caused him to leave after one year and take employment as a clerk in an
insurance office in New York City. During this time, he lived with his parents while his father was
pastoring in Jersey City. In his book, Songs That Touch the Heart, Bev Shea tells this story:
Once again Mother–my musical
guardian–had apart. A lover of beauty, be it a flower, a bird, a poem, an ennobling
quotation–whatever–Mother was a collector... she loved to share poetry and she
always had some verse in hand copied from a book or clipped from a magazine.
It was her practice of leaving such writing on the piano music rack which led to my writing
“I’d Rather Have Jesus” when I was twenty years old. The same Sunday morning I
read those wonderful words for the first time, I wrote music for them and used the song that
same day in my father’s church service. Of course, Mrs. Rhea F. Miller is the catalyst.
Without her inspiring lyrics, there would have been no song.... Over the years, I've not sung
any song more than “I’d Rather Have Jesus,” but I never tire of Mrs.
Miller’s heartfelt words.
During the nearly nine years that Shea
worked for the Mutual of New York Life Insurance Company, he continued his vocal training and
singing in churches and for local Christian broadcasts. One day a director of a network radio
station heard him sing and arranged for him to audition for a national program with the Lynn Murray
Singers.
Bev was thrilled with the prospect of singing on a network radio program, of being heard by large
numbers of people, and having a chance to make “big money” for a change. After passing
the audition test, Bev Shea just didn't feel right about accepting this “once in a
life-time” offer to be in secular work. “No” was strange word to such an offer, as
positions such as these were rare during those depression days, and thousands of young singers would
have leaped at such an opportunity.
On June 16, 1934, Bev married his teen-age sweetheart, Eram Scharfe, and together they raised two
children. The family moved to Chicago. where Bev took a position on the staff of radio station WMBI.
In June of 1944, Bev Shea realized his ambition to sing the gospel on a national radio program,
“Club Time.” A well-known aluminum firm, headed by a devoted Christian businessman,
Herbert J. Taylor, sponsored Shea’s program for the next several years, a program heard by
thousands of listeners each week.
Then during the 1940’s and 50’s, Shea was active, singing in large Youth for Christ
rallies throughout America and Canada. And now for more than three decades, Bev Shea has ministered
with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Team, around the world as well as on radio and television. In
1956, George Beverly Shea was given a honorary doctorate degree from Houghton College in recognition
of his many years of effective Christian ministry.
The power that this song has had in influencing and changing lives for God will be fully evaluated
only in eternity. There are countless testimonies by individuals whose lives have been changed by
the singing of this one hymn:
A thousand grim marines sat on a South
Pacific Island, during the days of World War II, listening to a gospel message punctuated with
gunfire in the distance. When the chaplain sat down, a marine stood this feet to sing the
closing hymn. As the shell-scarred palms swayed nearby, more than half of that company came
forward to profess faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. The marine soloist, a former opera
singer, had just concluded singing “I’d Rather Have Jesus...”
Dear Brothers and Sisters
in Christ,
"For me to live is Christ."
--Philippians 1:21
The believer did not
always live to Christ. He began to do so when God the Holy Spirit convinced him of sin, and when by
grace he was brought to see the dying Saviour making a propitiation for his guilt.
From the
moment of the new and celestial birth the man begins to live to Christ. Jesus is to believers the
one pearl of great price, for whom we are willing to part with all that we have. He has so
completely won our love, that it beats alone for Him; to His glory we would live, and in defence of
His gospel we would die; He is the pattern of our life, and the model after which we would sculpture
our character.
Paul's words mean more than most men think; they imply that the aim and end of
his life was Christ - nay, his life itself was Jesus. In the words of an ancient saint, he did eat,
and drink, and sleep eternal life. Jesus was his very breath, the soul of his soul, the heart of his
heart, the life of his life.
Can you say, as a professing Christian, that you live up to this
idea? Can you honestly say that for you to live is Christ?
Your business - are you doing it
for Christ? Is it not done for self- aggrandizement and for family advantage?
Do you ask, "Is
that a mean reason?" For the Christian it is. He professes to live for Christ; how can he live for
another object without committing a spiritual adultery?
Many there are who carry out this
principle in some measure; but who is there that dare say that he hath lived wholly for Christ as
the apostle did? Yet, this alone is the true life of a Christian - its source, its sustenance, its
fashion, its end, all gathered up in one word - Christ Jesus.
Lord, accept me; I here present
myself, praying to live only in Thee and to Thee.