And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole- Mark
10:52.
Bartimaeus had scarcely ended speaking when Christ began. He was blind at
the beginning of Christ’s little sentence; he saw at the end of it. “Go thy
way; thy faith hath saved thee.” The answer came instantly, and the cure was
as immediate as the movement of Christ’s heart in answer. I here and now
proclaim the possibility of an immediate passage from weakness to light.
Some folk look askance at us when we talk about sudden conversions, but
these are perfectly reasonable; and the experience of thousands asserts that
they are actual. As soon as we desire we have, and as soon as we have we
see. Whenever the lungs are open the air rushes in; sometimes the air opens
the lung that it may. The desire is all but contemporaneous with the
fulfillment, in Christ’s dealings with men. The message is flashed along the
wire from earth to heaven in an incalculably brief space of time, and the
answer comes swift as thought and swifter than light. So, dear friend, there
is no reason whatever why a similar instantaneous change should not pass
over you now. You are unsaved; you may be saved. It is for yourself to
settle whether you are or are not. Here we have a clear statement of the
path by which Christ’s mercy rushes into a man’s soul. “Thy faith hath saved
thee.” But it was Christ’s power that saved him. Yes! it was; but it was
faith that made it possible for Christ’s power to make him whole. Physical
miracles indeed did not always require trust in Christ, as a preceding
condition, but the possession of Christ’s salvation does, and cannot but do.
There must be trust in Him in order that we may partake of the salvation
which is owing solely to His power, His love, His work upon the Cross. The
condition is for us; the power comes from Him. My faith is the hand that
grasps His. It is His hand, not mine, that holds me up. My faith lays hold
of the rope. It is the rope, and the person above that holds it, that lifts
me out of the horrible pit and the miry clay. My faith flees for refuge to
the City. It is the City that keeps me safe from the Avenger of Blood.
Brother, exercise that faith, and you will find that vision. If you will
fling away your hindrances, and grope your path to His feet, and fall down
before Him, knowing your deep necessity, and trusting in Him to supply it,
He will save you. Your new sight will gaze upon your Redeemer, and you will
follow Him in the way of loving trust and glad obedience. Jesus Christ was
passing by. He was never to be in Jericho any more. If Bartimaeus did not
get his sight then, he would be blind all his days. Christ and His salvation
are offered to thee, my friend, now. Perhaps if you let Him pass you will
never hear Him call again, and may abide in the darkness forever. Do not run
the risk of such a fate.
In Celebration of Life in Him,
Dr. Jim DeBruhl, gembeaux@bellsouth.net
" Everything is wrong until God makes it right,"
