Worship Song Sunday -- Give Me Jesus, by Fernando Ortega

Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. 
~ Psalm 73:25, NASB

I consider everything else worthless because I'm much better off knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. It's because of him that I think of everything as worthless. I threw it all away in order to gain Christ
 ~ Philippians 3:8 God's Word Translation

Yesterday evening, I visited a friend's church.  We're not of the same denomination, so their order of service went a little differently than what I've come to know at my home church. 

After the pastor's sermon, we all stood up to sing 'Give Me Jesus.'  I was surprised. Not because they sang the song, but because earlier that morning the phrase -- 'just give me Jesus' -- popped into my head as I was heading out to an appointment. And it stayed with me throughout the day.   

I was also surprised to learn, from the church's hymnal, that this song of worship was not penned by some Contemporary Christian songwriter, but is actually an old African-American spiritual, its author unknown. The tempo of the version we sang was a bit quicker and more upbeat than the song here by Fernando Ortega, and some of the stanzas were quite different. 

But the meaningful content of this beautiful song is the same, reflecting the message in the Scriptures referenced above:

NOTHING in this world can hold a candle to knowing Jesus 

NOTHING in this world can bring the satisfaction that comes from knowing Jesus

NOTHING in this world is worth more than knowing, loving and being known and loved by Jesus Christ, so.......

You can have all this world -- but give me Jesus