I’d Rather Have Jesus
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with a beautiful old song that you will hear me often sing:
“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
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.”
That’s a song you’ll often hear me saying when I become weary of this old world. ʼCause life keeps pulling you this way and that; and you feel stretched in ten different directions; or, you discover, once again, how unfulfilling, how unsatisfying the world’s pleasures really are. And so then I’ll often sing, “Oh, Jesus, I would so much rather have You.” It’s a little like that story in John chapter 5. Where the paralyzed man was lying on a mat for thirty-eight years by the pool of Bethesda? The story reads like this, “When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
Now, the pool at Bethesda was a place where people waited – and they waited! People with diseases would crawl or hobble, or be carried there every day, hoping to be healed in the waters. This one paralyzed guy had been there for nearly four decades. I mean, think of that! That would be like lying by the pool from 1982 to January 2020. When Jesus asked him if he wanted to get well, he responded, “Sir … I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get there, somebody else goes down ahead of me.” That was his problem; and so often its ours. That man’s longing was fixed on a particular answer – he needed someone who would carry him to the water. But the one He really needed was standing right in front of him – Jesus. He’s the answer! Instead of someone carrying me to the water, I’d rather have Jesus. Because if you are looking for an answer to your plight, He’s it. And that’s a reminder to you and me today: When things look especially hopeless, remember who stands between you and your need – the very One who will make you whole.
So, I want you to pray with me, because believe me, I’m praying it, too: “Lord Jesus, I know that I have looked right past You many times in my life, hoping and longing for specific solutions to my problems. Jesus, sometimes I imagine some other expert will have all the answers for me. Medical answers, housing answers, employment answers. But You’ve been with me all along. And so, I say, along with Psalm 39, “My, Lord, my hope is in you. Jesus, I’d rather have You.” I would rather have You, Lord Jesus, than anything this world affords today, even its answers.
Taken from A Spectacle of Glory
By Joni Eareckson Tada
Copyright © 2016
Published in Print by Zondervan, Grand Rapids
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version.
Reading Through The Bible in 2020!
Start this new year off right by diving into the scripture. Read along with Joni and Ken and receive email updates along the way.
