Monday, November 8, 2010

It's Natural To Follow

And Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" And the blind man said to him, "Rabbi, let me recover my sight."  And Jesus said to him, "Go your way, your faith has made you well."  And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way. — Mark 10:51-52, ESV


Here's the first thought that popped into my mind as I read Mark 10 this morning:  "The natural response of those who are given sight is to follow the one who gave it to them."  The response of Bartimaeus was to follow Jesus.  He was not asked to do so by Jesus.  He wasn't encouraged by anyone else to go with him.  Rather, all that the passage says is that Bartimaeus went with him.  That's it.  But why? Because it's a natural response - or at least it should be.

But here's the thing that really stands out since it was Bartimaeus.  Picture it: Bartimaeus is blind at the beginning of the day.  He meets Jesus and his whole world is changed.  He no longer needed anyone to help him get from one place to the next.  He didn't have to shuffle along, hoping not to knock anything or anyone over.  He didn't have to worry about tripping over something (unless he was a klutz).  He was free.  And the joy in that freedom was this: he could follow Jesus all by himself.  He didn't need any help from anyone else.  He could see Jesus and he could follow him all by himself.

Here's the correlation for us.  For those of you who know Christ let me remind you of this: before you heard Christ's call and surrendered your life to him, you were blind (as was I).  You were unable to see anything.  In fact, Scripture teaches that you were once dead in your sins (Ephesians 2:1-3, ESV).  Dead means dead.  In the Greek language, dead means dead.  But, Jesus came and changed everything.  And the natural response for a person who has truly been changed by Jesus is to follow him.  Why? First, because we can see for ourselves who Jesus is and where he is going.  Secondly, because we are so grateful for the fact that he gave us life.

Remember: The natural response of those who are given sight is to follow the one who gave it to them.  And I can promise you this: Jesus loves the company.

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